The World of the Evans'
by LitWriter
Summary: When the gang returned to East High they never expected to see Ryan dressed in black with brunette hair. What's worse is he's doing drugs. What happened to him over the summer? No one knows, not even Sharpay. What happens when Jason Cross finds out?
1. The New Ryan

Finally the summer was over and everyone was back in East High and the gang was back for their senior year before college. They had all agreed to meet by the fountain at the front of the school before heading to class. Everyone was there, Troy, Gabriella, Chad, Taylor, Zeke, Jason, Kelsi, Martha, the only ones missing were Ryan and Sharpay. Troy, Chad, Zeke, and Jason were talking about new plays that they were going to run when basketball season came around while Gabriella, Taylor, Martha, and Kelsi were discussing all the new ideas there were for the fall musical.

When a pink convertible with a license reading 'FABULUS' was drove into the parking lot the gang was surprised to see only Sharpay get out of the car. As she neared the group she noticed the questioning look on all of their faces and instantly pulled out her compact mirror.

"What is it?" whined Sharpay, "Do I have something on my face?"

"No Sharpay you look fine." said Gabriella. "We were just wondering where Ryan was."

"Yeah, where is the Drama King?" Chad chimed in. "We never saw him after Lava Springs. We were hoping he could join us for baseball."

"Don't worry," said Sharpay as she put her compact away. "Ryan should be here soon. He told me to go on without him. We don't always drive together. By the way ,Gabi I have to tell you about the cutest pair of shoes I bought."

After the whole Lava Springs incident Gabriella and Sharpay had become the best of friends and spent nearly every second together. As everybody went back to their conversations a sleek midnight black Hummer. Sharpay looked toward the car and instantly recognized it.

"See," said Sharpay pointing toward the car. "There's Ryan now."

"That's Ryan's car?" said Jason.

Even though everyone else thought the same exact thing only Jason was brave enough to say it. Sharpay looked at them and laughed at wide eyes and open jaws.

"Well you didn't think that we actually shared a car did you?" asked Sharpay.

Even though Sharpay wasn't surprised by the car she was just surprised as everyone else when Ryan actually stepped out of the car. If it wasn't for the hat on his head and his messenger bag none of them would even believe that it was Ryan. Let's start from the bottom and work our way up.

First instead of his squeaky clean dress shoes he wore a pair of dirt encrusted, worn out, black Vans with white laces. His pants were just regular baggy dark brown jeans with a tear and a rip here and there with chains hanging out of the pockets. The shirt he wore was a regular loose fitting black shirt, but when he turned around to lock his car the gang saw the mural of skulls and leaves that adorned the back. And even though the stripped black and white engineer's cap on his head hid most of it, everyone could see that Ryan's once blond hair was now a darker shade of brown than Troy's.

Right next to the gang the cheerleaders were whispering things to each such as 'who is that', 'he is new here', and 'he's so fine I could just-'

"Hey!" shouted Sharpay to the group of giggling girls. "That is my brother. He is not a rock star that needs a band of groupies whispering about him."

"What's going on?" said Ryan who had apparently heard Sharpay's outburst as he walked up to his friends.

"Ryan what are you wearing?!" shrieked Sharpay. "And what did you do to your hair?!"

"What are you talking about Sharpay?" asked Ryan.

Sharpay snatched the hat off of Ryan's head and pointed to his newly brunette hair, "That's what I'm talking about. Why did you dye you hair?"

Ryan grabbed his hat back from Sharpay and placed it back on his head, "Sharpay let's talk for a second."

Ryan grabbed Sharpay by the wrist and pulled her away after giving a friendly wave to his friends. Too awestruck by his appearance the gang just waved back like a group of zombies. When Ryan and Sharpay went into the school the gang finally found the ability to speak again.

"Was that really Ryan?" Gabriella being the first to speak.

"I think it was." said Troy.

"That couldn't have been Ryan." said Taylor.

"He looked so different." said Kelsi.

"He looked kinda hot." said Martha.

_He looked really hot,_ thought Jason. Jason had always had a tiny crush on Ryan. Who wouldn't. He was cute, he could sing, he was one of the best dancers that Jason had ever seen. And with the new look he had today he was even hotter than before.

Inside the main hall of East High Ryan and Sharpay were standing against the lockers drawing more attention to themselves than Ryan's new look did alone.

"What is your problem?!" shouted Ryan at Sharpay.

"My problem?! Look at your hair! What have you done to your hair!" screamed Sharpay.

"I made it how it's supposed to look! After all it is my natural hair color." said Ryan, saying the last part in a whisper.

"I thought we agreed that no one was ever going to know. We made a promise to Mom and we made a deal as brother and sister to never let anyone know." Sharpay said also whispering. "Or have you forgotten."

"No I haven't forgotten. And nobody is going to know. Everyone will think that I just dyed my hair out of teen angst or something and soon people aren't going to care. I just thought that maybe for one year I could to school without lying to people about what I really look like."

Sharpay was stunned to say the least. She never knew how her brother felt about having to dye his blond like hers. "Fine Ryan. But we are going to have a talk with Mother when we get home today. You know she not going to like this one bit."

"Fine Sharpay." said Ryan. He looked over his shoulder and Sharpay turned to follow his gaze. There were guys that looked liked skater dudes by the way they were dressed. They nodded in their direction and she turned to see Ryan nod back. He looked at her one more time and said, "I got to go."

Sharpay watched Ryan walk away from her and towards the two skater dudes. He shook hands with both of them and they nodded towards Sharpay's direction making Ryan look back at her. Apparently they were talking about her, but only for a short time because a few seconds later they disappeared down another hall.

"What was that about?"

Sharpay turned again to see Gabriella and the rest of the gang standing behind her, also looking in the direction that Ryan left in. Even she wanted to talk about it Sharpay knew that she could never talk to anyone about Ryan. Otherwise someone might find out the truth.

"It's nothing. Ryan's just going through teen angst or something. I'm sure he'll be back to normal by tomorrow." said Sharpay walking away to homeroom.

With Sharpay and Ryan gone the rest of the gang were left to wonder what exactly was happening in the world of the Evans'.


	2. What is Wrong With Him?

In homeroom Ryan was nowhere to be seen. Everyone looked to Sharpay who usually always knew where he was. Sharpay ignored their looks and decided her nails were more interesting.

"Miss. Evans," said Ms. Darbus. "Would you happen to know where your brother is at the moment?"

"Not here." said Sharpay in an uninterested tone.

"We can obviously see where he isn't, but do you know where he _is_?" asked Ms. Darbus who was losing her patience with the female Evans twin.

"I don't know. What do I look like his keeper?" retorted Sharpay.

"That's it, Sharpay!" bellowed Ms. Darbus. "Fifteen minutes detention after school in the auditorium. And when you see your brother tell him he has detention as well."

"What?!" screeched Sharpay, now interested in what Ms. Darbus had to say. "Why me?! Ryan is the one skipping class! This is so unfair!"

"You're right, Sharpay it is unfair." said Ms. Darbus seeming to agree with her. "You both have thirty minutes in detention. And if you want more than keep talking." said Ms. Darbus before turning her attention to the rest of her class. "Summer is over people, way over! So show some respect and get to class on time!"

The rest of homeroom was spent in mild silence as Ms. Darbus handed out the class schedules and everyone checked to see if they had any classes with their friends. Sharpay was also given Ryan's schedule to give to him since they had every class together this year, except for two, sixth and final period. Troy, Chad, and Taylor had all of their classes together, as well as Martha and Kelsi. Gabriella had half of her classes with Ryan and Sharpay and the other half with Taylor, Troy, and Chad. Jason was the only one who had every single class with Ryan.

_Lucky me_, thought Jason. _Now I get to spend all day with him._

When the first bell rang everyone headed to their lockers, but still no one saw Ryan. Jason, Sharpay, and Gabriella walked together to their first class which was Biology sat together in the back near the windows.

When Jason and Gabriella tried to talk to Sharpay she would just turn her head towards the window and stared outside until the bell rang and the teacher began class. It was ten minutes into class that Ryan stumbled into class. His hat was gone from his head and his eyes were squinted like he the light was new to his eyes. He walked over to the only available seat which was right between Gabi and Sharpay and in front of Jason.

When the Biology teacher, Mrs. Ruché, cleared her throat and stared at Ryan awaiting an explanation for his tardiness Ryan opened his eyes more and pointed at himself. The teacher nodded and Ryan stood up to give his explanation.

"I'm sorry, but Sharpay stole my schedule so I had to go back to Ms. Darbus's room to find out where I had to go." said Ryan before he sat down again with a wide mouthed Sharpay glaring daggers at him.

"So it took you ten whole minutes to get from Ms. Darbus's room to here which is only a two minute walk, Mr. Evans?" questioned Mrs. Ruché.

"Well I also had to go to my locker." said Ryan.

"Really," said Mrs. Ruché looking at a clipboard that sat on her desk. "According to the locker charts Principal Matsui gave us your locker is less than a minute away from Ms. Darbus's room. So that three minutes right there. What were you doing for the other seven?"

"I don't know." replied Ryan with a shrug.

"Well than I guess you better find out in detention today." said Mrs. Ruché before she noticed Sharpay with a raised hand. "Yes, Miss. Evans."

"He can't do detention with you detention with you today, Mrs. Ruché. He already earned _both_ of us thirty minutes after school with Ms. Darbus." said Sharpay.

"Well than I guess he'll have fifteen minutes tomorrow." said Mrs. Ruché as she returned to her lesson.

Sharpay crumpled up Ryan's class schedule and threw and it at him when Mrs. Ruché turned to write on the ball. "I hope you're happy." she hissed at him. When he started to chuckle under his breath she glared at him. "Just what is so funny?"

"You need to learn to relax, Sharpay." whispered Ryan. "No wonder everyone around here calls you the 'Ice Queen'." He turned to look at her and leaned forward a bit. "Why don't you try to get that stick out of your butt?"

Sharpay gasped, a little too overdramatically, gaining the attention of most of the class and the teacher. "Sorry" she said before glaring more daggers at Ryan's smug smile.

"Ryan that was a really awful thing to say." whispered Gabriella who had heard everything.

"Yeah, Ryan." said Jason. "Don't you think that was a little harsh?"

Ryan turned to look at Gabriella whispered, "You need to learn to mind your business little Einsteinette." And turning to Jason he just stared at him for a few minutes before saying, "And you . . . you're kinda cute."

Ryan turned back to the front of the class with a smile on his face before falling asleep, leaving a very Sharpay and Gabriella and a blushing Jason to wonder what the hell was wrong with him.

The rest of the day went on in the same fashion Ryan ignored everyone and fell asleep in class while they all worried about what could be their happening to their friend.

During lunch period Ryan had mysteriously vanished again and everyone decided to pressure Sharpay into finding out what she knew about what was happening to Ryan. All she said was 'I don't know' before getting up from the table and leaving the cafeteria for the rest of lunch.

Ryan disappeared for the rest day until final period, which was P.E. with Jason. Jason hadn't expected Ryan to show up, since his least favorite class had always been P.E. and considering the way he ditched most his other classes, but he was glad that Ryan was there nonetheless.

Sadly Ryan hadn't come to class to participate. When he entered the locker room he just laid down on one of the benches and proceeded to fall asleep. Jason, not wanting Ryan to get in trouble with Coach Bolton, tried to wake him up before they had to be outside in the gym. He shook his shoulder gently coaxing Ryan out of his slumber.

Ryan opened his eyes slightly and looked up at Jason. He attempted to roll over onto his stomach, but since the bench was so small he ended falling flat on the floor. Jason helped him to his feet, but apparently Ryan didn't feel like supporting his own weight so he just leaned on Jason. Jason just slung Ryan's arm over his shoulder and wrapped his arm around his waist to support him.

"Ryan I think you should change and get out there before the coach notices you're missing." said Jason.

Ryan looked at Jason through squinted eyes and smiled before saying, "Hey you're the cute one."

"Uh . . yeah . . I-I guess." said a blushing Jason, who was glad there was no one around to see this exchange. He quickly regained his composure and said, "Seriously, Ryan you should hurry up and get out there."

"But you aren't out there." retorted Ryan. "So why should I be out there?"

"I would be out there if it weren't for you." said Jason.

"Aww. You aren't mad at me are you?" said Ryan laughing, as he played with Jason's hair.

"Ryan are you drunk or something? You've been acting really weird all day." asked Jason.

"Well," began Ryan. "Promise not to tell Sharpay, but I may have smoked a little something-something during homeroom and lunch."

"Wait a minute." said Jason. "Does this have to do with those two skater dudes? Ryan are you doing drugs?"

"Oh, don't go all mother-like and tell me how drugs are bad." Ryan moaned. "I think I liked it better when you mad at me."

"Ryan this is serious you-"

"Boys. Is everything alright in here?" asked a voice from behind them.

Jason turned his head to see Coach Bolton staring at them from the entrance of the locker cubicle where Jason and Ryan were. Jason struggled as he tried to turn his body, along with Ryan's, toward the coach.

"Ryan isn't really feeling very well, Coach Bolton. I should probably take him to the nurse's office." said Jason.

Coach Bolton looked from Ryan to Jason and back before saying, "Fine, but hurry back."

Jason dragged Ryan out of the gym and along the halls of East High until they were finally at the door of the nurse's office. By that time Jason was huffing and puffing from all the effort it took to carry Ryan.

"You know you could have helped by walking on your own?" said Jason.

"Yep." said Ryan simply.

"Never mind." said Jason as he opened the door of the nurse's office.

As Jason led Ryan to a bed the nurse came up to them and asked what was wrong.

"I don't know. He just fainted in the hallway." lied Jason.

The nurse opened one of Ryan's eyes and shined her mini-flashlight to check his pupils. As soon as the light touched his eyes Ryan smacked it out of the nurse's hand and yelled about how it was too bright. The nurse looked at Ryan worriedly than told Jason that he should head back to class.

When final period ended Jason exited the locker room to see Sharpay sitting in the bleachers of the gym apparently waiting for Ryan. Walking up to the bleachers he said, "Hey, Sharpay. Waiting for Ryan?"

"Yeah. Do you know where he is?" asked Sharpay. "He did show up? Right?"

"Calm down, Sharpay. He was here." said Jason to Sharpay's relief. "I took him to the nurse's office." At Sharpay's look of concern he quickly added, "Don't worry he's fine. He just wasn't feeling well." Jason lied again.

"Thank you, Jason." said Sharpay. "Oh, I almost forgot, my parents are letting us have a party at our house to celebrate the beginning of the year. Everyone's invited so tell the gang." said Sharpay as she jumped off the bleachers and left the gym.

"Right see you there." said Jason to Sharpay's retreating form.

Jason left the gym to go find the rest of the gang and tell them about the party thinking about how he was going to tell Sharpay that her twin was doing drugs.

_Ryan doing drugs_, thought Jason._ This is unbelieveable._


	3. The Truth at the Party

When Jason pulled up to the Evans' household he was shocked to say the least. Of course he knew that the Evans' were a very wealthy family and would obviously have a big house or a mansion, but he had no idea that a home could be so humongous. The Evan's mansion was probably as bigger than even twenty of his houses.

The drive way and most of the street was filled with the cars of seniors, but luckily Sharpay and Ryan reserved spot each of the gang. Jason walked up to the front of the mansion rang the door bell. Even from outside of the mansion he could the music pulsating from its insides. It took a while before someone actually came to the door, but eventually it was answered by Sharpay who smiled and ushered him inside.

"Everyone's in the main living room. That's just two rights, a left, another right, about three lefts, and on the right side of the hall." yelled Sharpay over the music with confusing hand gestures.

"What?" yelled Jason, who was not only confused by the directions, but also barely heard them.

"Just follow me." said Sharpay as she grabbed Jason's hand and led him to the gigantic home that filled with music and dancing teenagers.

Eventually they came to a large room with some cozy furniture that was pushed against the walls so everyone could dance in the middle of it. The gang was crowded around one of the couches that were in the room. Sharpay pulled Jason to the couch and sat down next to Gabi who was in the middle of a heated kiss with Troy. Sharpay cleared her throat, but wasn't loud enough to be heard over the music so they just continued until Sharpay tapped her on the shoulder. Gabi pulled away from the kiss flushed and decided to fix her hair as everyone else just laughed at the two.

Jason noticed that Ryan wasn't with the gang or in the room for that matter. And he hadn't seen him the entire time Sharpay was leading him through their home. Jason walked over to Sharpay and asked her, "Where's Ryan?"

"He decided to be a Grinch stayed up in his room. I don't know what's up with him lately, but I am sick of it. Why do you want to know?" said Sharpay.

"I was just curious." said Jason. "Where's the bathroom?"

"You just got here and you already have to use the bathroom?" said Sharpay incredulously. Jason just shrugged as he awaited a reply. Sharpay sighed and said, "The ones down here are probably occupied, but I'm sure no one's using any of the bathrooms upstairs. Here I'll show you."

"Don't worry. I saw some stairs on the way here." said Jason.

As Jason left the room he was sure Sharpay was watching him the entire time. When he finally found the stairs he had seen on the way to the main living room he made his way upstairs and cursed the Evans' for having such a big house. How the heck was he supposed to find Ryan's room when there were at least fifty doors down each hall. He just traversed the quieter upper halls of the Evans' mansion looking for something that would clearly indicate that the door led to Ryan's room.

Eventually he came to a door that was painted completely pink.

_Obviously Sharpay's, _thought Jason. _So this must be Ryan's._

Jason turned to the door that was directly across the hall. It was painted completely black which gave Jason some second thoughts, but there were no other doors that had any other indications to being Ryan's room. He grabbed the doorknob and slowly turned it before pushing it open.

At first glance Jason didn't believe that it was actually Ryan's room. The walls were as black as the door and covered with posters of rock bands and famous baseball players. There was a laptop on a desk in the corner, a second door that must have led to a bathroom, and a stereo that right next to a bed covered with black silk sheets. Then he saw the stack of hats was thrown into another of the room.

As he looked to the bed he saw someone was lying in it. He walked over to the bed sat on the edge before slowly pulling the sheets off of the sleeping form in the bed. And there was Ryan sleeping peacefully as he hugged his pillow to his face. Jason smiled as he looked down at Ryan. He seemed normal again, like he did during the summer before all this change.

Ryan's eyes fluttered open as he began to wake up from his nap. He didn't expect to see Jason smiling down at him and it sort of caught him off guard.

"What are doing in here?!" shouted Ryan and he fell back off his bed in shock.

"Oh my god. Ryan I'm sorry." said Jason as he jumped off the bed.

"Ugh." said Ryan as he picked himself up off the floor. "That is the second time today you've made fall on the floor."

"Hey, that first time wasn't my fault." said Jason.

"Yes it was." said Ryan rubbing his head. "If you'd just let me sleep it wouldn't have happened."

"Yeah" said Jason. "And then the coach would've found you and made you run all of gym class."

"He can't make me do anything." said Ryan.

"Yeah he can. It's his class." retorted Jason.

"No he can't!" said Ryan raising his voice. "Not him! Not Sharpay! Not my mother! And not my stepfather!"

"What do you mean stepfather?" asked Jason confused.

Ryan smacked himself in the forehead catching his mistake. _Great_, thought Ryan with a sigh. _Now he's curious. Might as well just tell him. I'll never hear the end of it from Sharpay._

"Since when did you ever have a stepfather, Ryan?" asked Jason.

"Since me and Sharpay were four years old." Ryan began. "The guy that you guys met at the country club is our stepfather. Our real father died from lung cancer when we were three."

"I'm so sorry, Ryan." said Jason. "Couldn't you guys have paid for an operation for him or something?"

"No." said Ryan sitting on his bed. "We couldn't back then. Before Mom married Rick we were as poor as the rest of you." Seeing the hurt expression on Jason's face he added, "No offense."

"None taken." said Jason sitting next to Ryan.

"Anyway, we couldn't afford any special operations to save him and so we had to sit back and watch him die." said Ryan. Jason thought he saw a tear escape Ryan's eye, but Ryan wiped his eyes too quickly for him to see. "So," Ryan continued. "A year later my mom decided to start dating and what do you know? She ends up married to a billionaire."

"Wait. So all this is because you're mad at your mom?" asked Jason.

"What are you talking about?" asked Ryan.

"I'm talking about the new clothes, the new hair, the new attitude. This whole new Ryan is because you're angry at your mom for getting remarried?" said Jason.

"Oh right." said Ryan. "Well the hair and the clothes aren't new. As hard it may be to believe this my natural hair color. Just like my dad's." explained Ryan as he ran a hand through it hair. Almost as if it reminded him of his deceased father. "And I've had these clothes forever. Sharpay just never lets me wear them in public."

"What about the attitude? That seems completely new." said Jason.

"Half of its new. And that's the drug using foul mouthed side." said Ryan.

"What about the other half? Where's that half?" said Jason. "Because everyone liked that half of Ryan much better during the summer than this one right now."

"That half is taking a rest right now." said Ryan looking down. "He'll be back. I don't when, but I know he will."

"Well than let's talk about the half that's awake right now." said Jason. "Why are you taking drugs, Ryan? You know the school has a zero tolerance policy about drug users. You could be expelled."

Ryan looked towards Jason with a questioning look on his face and said, "When did you get so smart?"

"I may be slow, but I'm not stupid." said Jason.

"You know that makes no sense to me." said Ryan.

"Stop avoiding the question." said Jason before repeating, "Why are you doing drugs?"

"Fine, Mr. Cross." said Ryan. "If you must know the only reason I'm doing them is because-"

"What are you doing in here, Jason?" said Sharpay, who was standing in Ryan's doorway.

Both boys looked at Sharpay and back at each other before Ryan replied, "Jason here got lost. And since I was feeling so alone I thought that maybe he could keep me some company."

"Well you wouldn't be feeling so alone if you actually came downstairs and mingled with some people." said Sharpay.

"Yeah," said Ryan with a snort. "'Mingling' that sounds fun."

"Whatever." said Sharpay. "Come on, Jason. Everyone's wondering where you ran off to."

Jason got up and walked halfway to the door before turning back to Ryan.

"You sure you don't want to come?" he asked.

Ryan looked straight into Jason's eyes and saw them begging him to come downstairs and have some fun with his friends. How could Ryan say no to those beautiful brown eyes that God had blessed Jason with?

"Fine." said Ryan. "But only for a few minutes."

Ryan got up from his bed and followed a stunned speechless Sharpay and a very Jason downstairs where the music had somehow become even louder.


	4. Promises and Rainbows

A/N: So sorry that this chapter is so bad. I really had no idea what to do for the flashback so it ended up in this really big mess.

* * *

"How do you not notice that your car is out of gas?" asked Ryan as he and Sharpay drove to school in his Hummer. "It's simple when the arrow gets close to the big E you go get more gas." he said as if talking to child.

"Shut up, Ryan." said Sharpay with her arms folding over her chest. "I'm sorry I was so distracted thinking about my brother that I forgot to get gas on the home."

"Sharpay, how many times do I have to tell you there is nothing wrong with me?" said Ryan. "Just learn to keep your nose in your own business."

"See," said Sharpay pointing to him. "That's what I'm talking about. If you want to show off your real hair color or wear those . . . common clothes to school then fine, but why are you suddenly acting so mean to everyone, especially me."

Ryan turned to Sharpay and took in his sister's sad expressions. "Look, Sharpay. I'm sorry, but you don't know how hard it is to live for thirteen years without being able talk to anyone about Dad, having to go to school every day lying about my clothes, my hair, about who I am really am. You have never had to lie because you've never had to change anything about you. You don't even care Dad is dead!"

"Don't you ever say that!" screamed Sharpay, who was now in tears. "Do you really believe I'm so heartless that I would ever stop caring about Dad?! How could you even think that?!"

"Because you never even talk about him!" shouted Ryan. "Whenever I bring up Dad you always just change the subject, like he never existed!"

"It's because I don't believe he's dead." said Sharpay hiding her face in her hands.

Ryan looked over at his sister again, "What?"

Sharpay lifted her head out of her hands and wiped away the tears that were falling down her face. "I said I don't believe he's dead. When we left the hospital that day I always imagined that Dad was just playing one his pranks one us. Like he used to. I always told myself that he was just hiding somewhere waiting for the perfect time to spring out and say 'surprise'." said Sharpay as she waved her hands. "Whenever you talked about how fun Dad was and how smart he was I always told myself it's not 'Dad _was_ fun' he '_is_ fun'."

"Sharpay," said Ryan placing a hand on her shoulder. "I know how hard it is to let go of Dad. I still haven't completely let go of him. But you can't keep fooling yourself into thinking that he's still alive."

"It's no worse than using drugs to get rid of your feelings." said Sharpay looking down at her lap.

For the first time in two days it was Ryan's turn to be shocked by something Sharpay said. "How did you know?" asked Ryan. He was sure he never told her about the drugs. He had been sure she was never around when he did them.

"You told me about it during detention yesterday. Apparently you were still high from your last drug use." said Sharpay.

Yesterday during detention? When had he told her during detention? He didn't even remember what happened in detention yesterday. _Oh crap_, thought Ryan.

"I don't even remember detention yesterday." said Ryan.

"Really?" said Sharpay. "Because I remember it all too well."

_

* * *

_

_Sharpay ran to the nurse's office after Jason had told her Ryan was in there. She burst through the door and ran straight to Ryan's side where the nurse appeared to be taking his temperature. _

_"Is he ok?" asked Sharpay snatching the thermometer from Ryan's mouth to check his temperature._

_"He quite alright Miss. Evans. And I'll have that back." said the nurse taking the thermometer from Sharpay's hands._

_"Sorry." said Sharpay. "Jason told me he wasn't feeling well and I was so worried about him."_

_"Really?" said the nurse. "Mr. Cross told me the exact same thing. And yet, I haven't been able to find a single thing wrong with. Except for him falling asleep every ten seconds after he wakes up."_

_"Oh," said Sharpay thinking quickly. "Well __he's been missing out on his beauty sleep. You know all the late night summer parties. I keep telling him that he should get more rest."_

_"Well make sure he does." said the nurse as Ryan began to wake up again._

_"Hey, Sharpay." he said as he looked toward his sister._

_"C'mon, Ryan," said Sharpay. "We have detention to get to."_

_Ryan slowly got up and set his feet on the floor. When he stood up he swayed a bit and Sharpay helped him to find his balance before he just walked out of the nurse's office without a word._

_"Thank you." said Sharpay nicely to the nurse before rushing after Ryan.__She found him right outside __sitting against the wall. She grabbed his arm and started to pull saying, "Up you go, Ryan."_

_She never realized how heavy her brother really was._ How can someone so thin be so heavy,_ thought Sharpay._

_When Ryan was finally on his feet __he and Sharpay made their way to the auditorium, Sharpay having to catch Ryan every time he was about to lose his balance. When they finally got to the auditorium it was completely empty except for Ms. Darbus, who stood on the stage waiting for the two._

_"You're late." said Ms. Darbus._

_"__We're sorry." said Sharpay. "Ryan had to go to the nurse's during final period and I had to go get him after."_

_"Fine." said Ms. Darbus.__ "Just don't let it happen again."_

_"__Right,__ Ms. Darbus." said Sharpay._

_When Ryan said nothing Sharpay elbowed him in the side and he suddenly jolted awake and said, "What she said!"_

_"Since the fall musicale isn't for two months I won't need any help with that. And since there's only two of you here I guess I'll just have you two polish the stage." said Ms. Darbus walking down the stage stairs._

_"What?!" screamed Sharpay right into Ryan's ear.__ "Ms. Darbus you can't be serious."But Ms. Darbus had already left._

_"Ah!" shouted Ryan covering his ears. "Could you keep it down__ Sharpay?"_

_"No! I will not keep it down!" said Sharpay. "Because of you I have to do menial labor with his my newly manicured nails."_

_"Boohoo." __said Ryan uninterested. "Just wake me up when you're done."_

_"Oh no you don't." said Sharpay as she grabbed Ryan before he could sit down in a chair. "If I have to suffer through this then so do you."She dragged him onto the stage and left him leaning against a wall before walking backstage to get the rags and wood polish from the janitor's closet. When she returned to the stage she found Ryan lying flat on the ground asleep again. "Oh my god," moaned Sharpay. "You are hopeless."_

_She left the rags and wood polish on the stage and went to go pick up Ryan. When she finally managed to lift him up he was still asleep so she decided to take drastic measures. Lifting up her foot she slammed the heel of her stilettos right onto Ryan's foot. Instantly Ryan's eyes shot open and a scream erupted from his mouth as he grabbed his foot and started to hop around the stage. He turned to see Sharpay trying to suppress a laugh at his obvious pain._

_"God damn it, Sharpay__ What the hell is your problem? You could put a hole right through my foot__" shouted Ryan._

_"That's payback for getting me into this mess in the first place and then trying to give me all the work by falling asleep!" screamed Sharpay. _

_"Well now I won't be able to sleep until__ the feeling in my foot returns." said Ryan._

_"Then instead of whining make yourself useful. Grab a rag and start polishing." said Sharpay pointing to the rags and polish._

_"You know you're an evil girl right?" said Ryan hopping over to the rags._

_"I try." said Sharpay as she followed._

_They set to work for polishing the stage and continued on in silence, except for Ryan's occasional grumblings, for fifteen minutes before they took a break. They sat together on the edge of stage with Sharpay resting her head on Ryan's shoulder._

_"I miss this." she said._

_"What?" said Ryan__ who looked like he was __dozing off again. _

_"Us spending time together." said Sharpay. "Like we did last year. The week after the whole Lava Springs Talent Show thing you just disappeared. I didn't see you for the rest of the summer. And when I saw you come to school today looking like this I thought it was all my fault for not spending enough time with you."_

_"Oh please, Sharpay. Could we not make this whole thing about you?" groaned Ryan._

_"I'm sorry, Ryan, but that's how I felt. I felt like a horrible sister that was so cruel to her brother." said Sharpay._

_"Sharpay you couldn't be a horrible person. You're surrounded by rainbows." said Ryan._

_"What?" said Sharpay._

_Ryan sat up straight and drew a circle around Sharpay with his finger. "All those swirly__ rainbows that all around you."_

_"Ryan, what are you-" Sharpay stopped as she noticed Ryan's eyes. They were glazed over and seemed far off. And what was that smell. Suddenly she could smell this weird scent coming from Ryan. More specifically his pocket. She reached into his __pants__ pocket and pulled out __a paper roll filled with something that was some sort of greenish-brown. She took one more sniff of it before she knew what it was. "Ryan," said Sharpay holding the paper roll in his face. "Is this marijuana?_

_Ryan looked at the paper roll curiously then cocked his head with a frown. "Hey," he said. "You stole that from my pocket. Give it back that's my last one."Ryan said extending his hand to Sharpay._

_"Ryan, are you crazy?!" shouted Sharpay. "You could get expelled if you're caught with this!"_

_"Then give it back to me so I can hide it." said Ryan grabbing the paper roll and returning it to his pocket._

_"Ryan, why would you do drugs?" asked Sharpay._

_"Because they make me feel good. Duh." said Ryan. "They just make all your feelings go away and you feel happy and giddy."_

_"That's no reason to do drugs.__" said Sharpay._

_"Blah blah blah." said Ryan. "Don't try to be some voice of reason, Sharpay. I can do whatever I want and I don't need your permission to do it."_

_"Fine, do what you want."__said Sharpay before pointing a finger at Ryan's face. "But don't __let anyone know about this."_

_"Wasn't counting on it." said Ryan._

_The rest of detention was spent in silence polishing the rest of the stage. When Ms. Darbus came back to let them go the stage was finished and Ryan and Sharpay were resting in the front row seats._

_"Very good. You may go." said Ms. Darbus as she left again._

_Sharpay left the auditorium and got into her pink convertible without so much as saying a word or even looking at Ryan. Although it didn't matter because Ryan had fallen asleep again. It wasn't until fifteen later that the janitor came in and woke Ryan up that he left the auditorium for his car and headed home.

* * *

_

"Wow," said Ryan. "Not exactly the way I wanted you to find out."

"I wish that there wasn't anything to find out in the first place." said Sharpay.

"I'm sorry, Sharpay." said Ryan. "But now you know. And you won't tell anyone right?"

"Oh no, Ryan." said Sharpay. "I'm going to go screaming 'Hey everybody! My brother is a drug addict!'. Yeah, that would be fun."

"Thanks, I guess." grumbled Ryan.

As they pulled into the school parking and found a parking space they both unbuckled their seat belts, but Sharpay placed a hand on Ryan's arm before he could leave the car. He turned to look and saw she had a very serious look on his face.

"We're going to Mother about this new look when she comes home today." said Sharpay. "So don't run off getting high. We don't need her finding out about that too."

"Fine, Sharpay." said Ryan. "And by the way Jason knows everything."

Before Sharpay could even grab him Ryan was out of the car and running towards the main doors of East High.

* * *

A/N: Again really about the flashback. 


	5. Twin Trouble

When Sharpay found Ryan he was standing against his locker talking to Troy, Chad, and more importantly Jason.

_That saves me the trouble of trying to find the both of them,_ thought Sharpay.

Without even a hello she grabbed Jason and Ryan and pulled them around a corner leaving Troy and Chad to stand alone with confused expressions on their faces.

"Do you think we should follow them?" asked Troy.

"And face the wrath of the Mountain Lion?" said Chad.

"Good point." said Troy.

With that said they both headed to homeroom while Sharpay led Ryan and Jason down an empty hallway. When she was sure no one was around she pushed both boys against the wall and held them there by collars with some sort of sudden superhuman strength.

"When did you get so strong?" asked Ryan as he struggled against her grip.

"Well I read somewhere that when people get angry they sometimes find some untapped strength somewhere." said Sharpay. "And with how angry I am at the both of you I should be stronger than Wonder Woman!"

"What did I do?" asked a terrified Jason.

"You just had to poke your nose into our family business." said Sharpay. "And I want make sure that you don't tell anyone about any of it. Not our father and not the drugs." Sharpay said that last part more to Ryan than Jason. "Because if you do I will hang you up by your thumbs and beat you with a red hot iron rod while rabid dogs eat your feet." said Sharpay.

"You don't have to worry, Sharpay." said Jason quickly. "I won't tell anybody anything."

"Good." said Sharpay turning her attention to Ryan. "And you. You just have to find a way to ruin my morning every single day. Why?!"

"Sharpay, calm down." said Ryan tenderly rubbing his sister's arm. When she released her death grip on the boys Ryan wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Everything's going to be ok. There won't be any more problems with me. You can just relax."

"That's good." said Sharpay. "I thought I was going to get frown lines from all the stress you people were causing me." whined Sharpay massaging her temples.

"Do you want to sit down?" asked Ryan holding his sister. Sharpay simply nodded with a pout on her face. "C'mon, let's go." said Ryan leading her to homeroom.

Jason watched the twins start to walk off and sighed before following them. _What have I gotten myself into_, he thought.

When they entered Ms. Darbus's class Ryan and Sharpay sat together in the front row while Jason headed to the back where everyone else was sitting. Sharpay grabbed his arm when he was walking by her desk.

"Don't forget our deal Cross." whispered Sharpay without even looking at him.

Jason gulped as he remembered Sharpay's threat and walked to his seat very scared and nervous.

"What was that about?" asked Troy as Jason sat down.

"Nothing." said Jason calming himself down.

* * *

When lunch came around the whole gang, including Ryan, went to the cafeteria and sat down at their usual table. Everyone began to settle into their own separate conversations. Troy, Chad, Zeke, and Jason talking about sports, Sharpay and Kelsi discussing the upcoming musical, and Taylor, Gabriella, and Martha went over the Algebra homework that Mrs. Davis, the algebra teacher, had given out. 

Ryan just sat quietly while scanning the other tables in the cafeteria. That's when his gaze landed the two guys he had disappeared with yesterday. Jesse and Chester. It just so happened that they were also looking at him. Jesse nodded his head toward the door and Ryan just nodded back. He began to get up when he felt someone grab his arm. It was Kelsi.

"Ryan, do you think you could help me with the choreography for the musical?" she asked letting go of his arm..

"Uh," said Ryan looking at Jesse and Chester, who were already heading for the cafeteria doors, and then back at Kelsi. "Sure, Kels. Maybe later."

"Hold on, Ryan." said Sharpay smiling. "Where are you running off to?" She looked where he his attention had been drawn to and saw Jesse and Chester at the cafeteria doors waiting. Her smile instantly dropped and she looked at Ryan with a solemn face. "You promised!" she said a bit too loudly.

Everyone's attention was suddenly on them, but Sharpay took no notice of it. Ryan leaned down close to Sharpay's face and whispered, "Why not scream for the whole cafeteria to hear?"

Sharpay looked at the group and back at Ryan before she grabbed Ryan's arm, leading him away from the table and up the stairs of the cafeteria. Ryan leaned against the railing of the second level as Sharpay just stood next to him with her hands on her hips.

"What the hell?" whispered Sharpay. "You promised that you wouldn't go around doing this today."

"And I'm going to keep that promise, Sharpay." said Ryan. I'm just going to tell Jesse and Chester that I'm up to it today."

"Now your drug addict buddies have names?" said Sharpay folding her arms over her chest.

"Yes, they have names, Sharpay." said Ryan. "And I am not a drug addict. I can stop doing them whenever I want to."

"Then why don't you just ignore Joe and Carter and actually talk to your friends?" asked Sharpay with over exaggerated hand motions.

"First, it's Jesse and Chester. And second just because our friends can't hear us doesn't mean they can't see us, Sharpay." said Ryan gesturing to the gang who were all staring up at them.

With unsaid agreement Ryan and Sharpay plastered on phony delightful grins, turned to the group, and waved to their friends who just awkwardly waved back to the twins.

"Ryan the only reason they became our friends is because of you." said Sharpay turning back to Ryan with a sad face. "Now you're just going to avoid them and act like you don't want to be near them."

"Sharpay I can't stay close to them without spilling our secret." said Ryan. "Look at what happened with Jason."

"That's only because I wasn't there." said Sharpay putting a smile as she took his hand in hers. "As long we're together you don't have to worry."

Sharpay thought she saw something in Ryan's eyes, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. Ryan took his hand from Sharpay and shoved it in the pockets of his jeans taking a step away from her.

"So what do you expect me to do?" asked Ryan. "Go hang out with the girls at the mall? Practice for the musical non-stop with Kelsi? Follow you around everywhere you go? I don't think so! That sounds exactly like the life I used to have. The one that I neither asked for nor wanted."

Sharpay watched Ryan as he walked away, headed down the stairs, and walked straight out the cafeteria doors with Jesse and Chester right behind him. The gang had watched the whole thing and their eyes followed Ryan as he left the cafeteria. Now turning their gaze back to Sharpay they could see she was staring straight at Jason. Even as she walked down the stairs and back to the table her eyes never left Jason. She slammed her hands on the table and glared at Jason.

"You have to go get Ryan." she said.

"What?" blurted out Jason. "Why me?"

"Because he won't listen to me and obviously you're the only other person who can go." said Sharpay.

"Why is Jason the only other person who can go?" asked Zeke.

"Yeah, why can't any of us go?" asked Martha.

"That's not important." said Sharpay. "Jason. Go." she said pointing toward the cafeteria doors.

"Fine." said Jason getting up. "But you owe me."

With one look from Sharpay and he was practically sprinting out of the cafeteria.


	6. Boyfriend!

Jason had no idea why Sharpay would think that he would be better at convincing Ryan to come back to the cafeteria than her. She was his sister after all, and he barely knew Ryan. All he knew was that Ryan likes baseball, his real hair color was dark brown, his real father was dead, and he was a pretty cool person, except for the whole drug thing.

Now where would someone go if they were going to do drugs during school? The first thing that came to Jason's mind was outside. It took him seven minutes to get from the cafeteria to the back entrance. When he exited the school he saw a small cloud of smoke coming from behind the bleachers next to the soccer field.

As Jason neared the bleachers he could hear laughter. When he looked behind them he saw Chester making stupid faces while Ryan and Jesse were doubled over in laughter. Now that he found Ryan all he had to do was get him away from his drug buddies. That's when an idea hit him.

He dug a hand in his pocket and took out a quarter. Taking his aim he threw it so that it flew right past Chester face. When Chester saw the quarter fly by he instantly ran after it, prompting Jesse to end his laughter and run right after him. Ryan opened his eyes to see the guys had run off after something. As Ryan got up to follow them he suddenly felt someone grab his arm, which people seemed to be a lot of lately, and drag him in the opposite direction.

"Ryan, what are you doing?" asked Jason as he turned around to face Ryan.

"What the hell are _you_ doing?" said Ryan removing Jason's hand from his arm. "You can't just go around grabbing people."

"Sharpay told me to come and get you." said Jason.

"Sharpay told you to come and get me." repeated Ryan folding his arms. "What am I four? I can take myself."

"Apparently not since you're out here with these guys." said Jason pointing at Jesse and Chester, who were still looking for the quarter.

"For your information _th__o__se guys_ are my friends." said Ryan also pointing at the two.

"Well they're not very good friends if their encouraging you to do drugs." retorted Jason.

"Again, for your information I haven't even had any drugs today." said Ryan.

"You haven't?" asked Jason.

"No. I haven't." said Ryan.

"Then why were acting just like those two a few seconds ago?" said Jason.

"I was just pretending to be high. Those two smoked so much that they'd believe the sky was falling if you told them it was." said Ryan looking back at the two who had finally found the quarter. "And as much as I wanted to I couldn't do any drugs today. I made a promise to Sharpay. And I never go back on my promises, especially one I made to my twin."

"How do I know you're not lying?" asked Jason.

"Because if I was high right now I'd probably be calling you the 'cute one'" said Ryan. A blush crept up on Jason's face and he turned his head to the floor. "Yep, Sharpay told me about first period yesterday. Just so you know," said Ryan turning away. "I'm taken."

Jason watched as Ryan walked back to the two stoners and tapped Jesse on the shoulder. When Jesse turned around Ryan wrapped his arms around his neck and brought their lips together into a passionate kiss. It seemed like hours before they finally separated and Ryan whispered something in Jesse ear before removing his arms and walking back to a wide mouthed Jason.

"You should close your mouth before a fly crawls in there." said Ryan shutting Jason's mouth as he passed by him. When Ryan felt no one following him he looked back to see Jason still rooted to his spot by the bleachers. He walked back to the bleachers grabbed Jason by the arm and with great effort pulled him in the direction of the school.

Once inside Ryan brought his mouth close to Jason's ear and screamed as loud as he could. Jason reeled from the sudden noise and covered his ears with hands. He glared at Ryan and said, "What was that for?!"

"I wanted to make sure your brain was still functioning." said Ryan.

"So you screamed in my ear?!" shouted Jason.

"Worked didn't it?" said Ryan with a smirk. "So what happened to you? You just blanked out."

"I'm sorry," said Jason. "But I just didn't know what to think when you- you-"

"When I kissed my boyfriend?" offered Ryan.

"Boyfriend?!" shouted Jason.

"Oh crap." said Ryan slapping his forehead. "There I go again giving away information that no one needs to know."

"Boyfriend?!" repeated Jason.

"Shh! Would you keep it down?" said Ryan covering Jason's mouth with his hand. "You never know when someone might be lurking around."

Jason removed Ryan's hand from his mouth and said, "Since when is that guy your boyfriend?"

"Since none of your business." countered Ryan.

"Why would you even want to date him?" said Jason. "He's an idiot stoner who's gonna get you expelled."

"Why do you even care?" asked Ryan tilting his head to the side, confused by Jason's sudden concern with his love life.

"I don't." said Jason looking away from Ryan when he started blushing again. "I just don't think he's the right guy for you."

Ryan saw the blush on Jason's face and something clicked inside his brain. "You're jealous."

Jason looked at Ryan red-faced with wide eyes. "What?! I'm not jealous! Why would I be jealous?!"

"Oh my god! You're so jealous!" said Ryan chuckling. "The question is why you, Mr. Cross, would be jealous of my boyfriend."

"I told you I'm not jealous of him!"

Ryan stepped closer to Jason so that they were just a few centimeters apart. "Do you like me, Jason?" asked Ryan in a sultry voice.

"Maybe." said Jason taking deep breaths.

"Well, I think I like you too." said Ryan closing the distance between them.

He captured Jason's lips with his own wrapped his arms around Jason's neck. Jason mindlessly wrapped his arms around Ryan's waist and started to kiss him back. But then something came to his mind.

"What about your boyfriend?" asked Jason pulling away from the kiss.

"What about him?" said Ryan pulling Jason lips back to his.

That was a good enough answer for Jason. When their lips came together the kiss became even deeper than before. For what seemed like forever they just stood there, in front of the back entrance, kissing. As they pulled apart someone cleared their throat. Ryan and Jason turned their heads to see Kelsi staring at them with tears in her eyes.

"Sharpay told me to come find you." she said quietly before running down the hall and around a corner.


	7. You Can't Panic Now

"Kelsi, wait!" yelled Ryan as he ran to catch up with her with Jason right behind him. When they came to a set of stairs he knew exactly where she was going. As Ryan and Jason reached the top the door to the music room was slammed and locked. Even with the half foot of wood between them Ryan could hear Kelsi's sobs. Ryan knocked on the door and said, "Kelsi, c'mon! Open the door!"

"Why is she so upset?" said Jason.

"Wow," said Ryan. "How oblivious can you be?" At Jason confused expression he just sighed and continued, "Kelsi likes you. She's liked you ever since the whole callbacks, scholastic decathlon, and basketball championships, thing."

"Really?" said Jason.

"Unbelievable." said Ryan with a sigh. He knocked on the door again and said, "Kelsi, open up!"

"Why would she hide in the music room?" said Jason.

"Because there's a piano." said Ryan leaning against the door. "When she gets mad or sad she comes in here and plays the piano to calm her down."

"I don't hear the piano." said Jason.

"What?!" said Ryan frantically. He quickly got up off the door and pressed his ear against it. Jason was right there was no piano. The sound of Kelsi's sobs were gone as well. "Kelsi!" screamed Ryan as he banging and kicking the door in a crazed frenzy.

Jason quickly grabbed Ryan and pulled him away from the door. "Ryan, calm down!" said Jason as Ryan tried to struggle out of his grip.

"Let me go! She could die!" shouted Ryan.

Jason instantly removed his arms from Ryan and let him continue his attack on the door. "What are you talking about?" said Jason.

Ryan paused in his hysterics and turned back to Jason taking deep breaths. "She's having a panic attack." said Ryan tears forming in his eyes.

"How do you know that?" asked Jason.

"The only reason she wouldn't be playing the piano is because of a panic attack. Even in the middle of a hurricane she could play the piano." said Ryan. "Now help me get this door open."

As Ryan turned back to the door an idea came to Jason. "I have an idea." he said as he ran down the hall and disappeared, leaving Ryan to just watch as he left. Five minutes later Ryan was sitting against the wall as Jason returned with a crowbar.

"Where'd you get that?" said Ryan rising from the floor.

"Janitor's closet." answered Jason as he striked the door with the crowbar.

"The janitor has a crowbar?" said Ryan.

"Guess so." said Jason as some wood began to chip away from the door.

"Weird." said Ryan.

"I know." said Jason.

In two minutes time there was small hole in the door large enough for Ryan to fit his arm through. He reached in as far as he could and felt around until he found the handle and turned it. With the door unlocked the two boys rushed in and found Kelsi lying on the floor with her eyes closed and her breathing short and uneven. Ryan kneeled down besides and gently tapped her on the cheek.

"Kelsi," he whispered. "Kelsi, are you ok?"

Kelsi half opened her eyes and turned her head towards Ryan. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Ryan picked her up bridal style and walked out of the room with Jason behind him.

"Where are we going?" asked Jason as he and Ryan descended the stairs.

"Hospital." said Ryan.

"What about Sharpay?" said Jason.

"Right," groaned Ryan. "I'm her ride home. Here, take Kelsi take your car." said Ryan putting Kelsi in Jason's arms. "I'll be right there."

As Jason headed towards the front entrance and the parking lot Ryan went to the cafeteria. He walked straight up to the gang slammed his keys right in front of Sharpay. "Talk later, gotta go." said Ryan as he turned and left before Sharpay could raise a finger.

When he walked out of the front entrance he saw Jason's car waiting next to the curb. He got into the passenger seat and buckled his seat belt as Jason drove to the local hospital.


	8. Hospital Drama

"I'm sorry, but you're not allowed to see your friend right now." said the nurse with a mechanical smile and cheery voice.

"I don't give a fuck about I'm allowed to do!" shouted Ryan as he slammed his hands on the front counter. "I _want_ to see my friend so tell me what room she's in!"

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to lower your voice, sir." said the nurse with the same annoyingly happy voice and smile.

"I'll lower my voice when you let me see Kelsi!" said Ryan.

Whatever else he had to say was muffled by Jason's hand slipping over his mouth and Jason's other arm wrapping around his waist to turn him away from the nurse.

"Sorry about him." said Jason as Ryan beat on his hands. "He's just going through a rough time right now."

"Well please try to keep him in line or I'll be forced to sedate him." said the nurse.

"Will do." said Jason. As he walked over to the waiting area with a still struggling Ryan he said, "And I thought Sharpay was dramatic." This seemed to shut Ryan up because he stopped screaming into Jason's hand and his hands went limp at his sides. Jason let go of Ryan and placed him gently on his feet. "Feeling better?"

Ryan just glared at him and said, "If you ever call me more dramatic than my sister again I will- I will- It'll be really bad ok?"

"Yeah, you got me shaking in my boots." said Jason. He laughed as he took a seat.

"Don't mock me." said Ryan sitting right next to him. "So I'm not as good at threats as Sharpay. That doesn't mean I can't kick your ass."

"Is that so?" said Jason leaning closer.

"Yes it is." said Ryan also leaning in.

"Well now I'm scared." said Jason.

"You should be." said Ryan.

When the distance between them was just a mere three centimeters Ryan's phone began to play 'Simple Living' by Gym Class Heroes. Ryan lowered his head and sighed as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his silver Razor.

"Hello." he said into the phone with a slight hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Don't get an attitude with me." came Sharpay's voice. "I'm not the one who just left school in the middle of the day."

"Sharpay," said Ryan trying to hold back his anger. "You always have the perfect timing don't you?"

"Where the hell are you?" said Sharpay ignoring Ryan's comment. "Lunch ended more than hour ago and there are still two periods left."

"I'm at the hospital." said Ryan.

"What?!" screeched Sharpay. "I told you that drugs were going to hurt you. Now you're in the hospital."

"Sharpay!" said Ryan interrupting his sister. "I'm not _in_ the hospital. I'm _at_ the hospital with Jason because Kelsi had one of her panic attacks."

"Oh my god!" said Sharpay. "I can't believe you didn't tell me. I'm coming right now."

"No Sharpay." said Ryan. "You have to stay there to explain to everyone what happened."

"What exactly did happen?" said Sharpay. "Why did Kelsi have a panic attack?"

"I'm not sure." Ryan lied.

"Well she couldn't have just been walking and then suddenly go into a panic attack." said Sharpay. "Something must have happened. What happened when she found you and Jason? I sent her to look for you guys when Jason was taking too long."

"I don't really know." Ryan lied again.

"What do you mean you don't know?!" yelled Sharpay. "You were there with her."

"Maybe she saw something." offered Ryan.

"Ryan, what aren't you telling me?" said Sharpay suspiciously.

"Oh look," said Ryan thinking. "Kelsi just woke up. Bye-bye Sharpay."

"Ryan, don't you-" started Sharpay. But she was cut off by Ryan shutting his phone and putting it back in his pocket. He turned back to Jason and smiled. "So where were we?"

"Well-"

"You can see your friend now!" called the nurse from the front counter.

"I really hate that woman." said Ryan. Jason laughed as they got up, walked over to the front counter, and got Kelsi's room number. "Pretend it just never happened." said Ryan out of nowhere as they walked down the spotless white halls of the hospital.

"What?" said Jason.

"The whole kiss thing." said Ryan. "When we're with Kelsi just pretend the whole thing never happened. For her sake."

"Ok." said Jason.

When they entered Kelsi's room they found her sitting up in a hospital with an I.V. machine connected to her arm. She smiled as Ryan and Jason stood by her bedside.

"Hey guys." she said with her usual delightful tone.

"Hey Kels." said Ryan. "How you feeling?"

"I'm fine." said Kelsi. "But I can just never remember what happened before these attacks. You wouldn't mind filling in the blanks would you Ry?"

"Course not." said Ryan. "What do you remember?"

"I remember Sharpay getting really angry." said Kelsi.

"Well that covers about every second of her life. Could you be more specific?" said Ryan.

"She was mad at Jason for taking too long to find you and so she told me to go make sure he hadn't gotten his head stuck in a toilet." said Kelsi.

"Hey!" said Jason. "That only happened one time. And it was only because she dared me to stick my head in a toilet in second grade."

"And you were actually stupid enough to do it." laughed Ryan.

"She was a girl and she double dog donut dared me. I had to do it." said Jason.

"Your logic astounds me." said Ryan.

"I get that a lot." said Jason.

"Not to interrupt this riveting conversation," said Kelsi. "But can we move on."

"Sorry." said both boys.

"Anyways, I remember going to the back of the school, I remember being on the floor of the music room," said Kelsi thinking hard. "Oh! And I remember finding you and Jason doing something that really upset me."

"Oh that!" said Ryan faking like he remembered something.

"What?" said Kelsi.

"Well you found Jason and I when we were- we were"

"Wrestling." finished Jason when Ryan got stuck. "Ryan and I were playing around and you thought we were fighting for real."

"Yeah," said Ryan. "I guess you got really worried and that's why you had that panic attack."

"Oh," said Kelsi. "But why were you guys wrestling in the middle of the hallway?"

"Oh, you know us boys." said Jason. "We just do those kinds of stupid things for no reason."

"You're right." agreed Kelsi.

"Didn't take you long to agree with that now did it?" said Ryan.

"Hey, he's the one that said it. " said Kelsi pointing at Jason.

"Good point." said Ryan.

"But that still doesn't explain the music room." said Kelsi.

"The music room?" said Ryan. "Well, we took you to the music room because I thought your medication was in there."

"Why would you think it was in there?" said Kelsi. "I've always told you it was in my locker."

"I just thought you might have moved it because you're always in there." said Ryan.

"But why was I on the floor?" said Kelsi.

"Jason dropped you." said Ryan quickly.

"What?!" said Jason, but quickly added when he looked at Kelsi, "It was an accident. And it wasn't that bad."

"Well I appreciate you carrying me." said Kelsi smiling at Jason.

"No problem." said Jason smiling back.

For a second, as Ryan watched Kelsi and Jason lost in some sort of trance, he thought he felt something sharp in his chest, but pushed it aside. "Ok," said Ryan loudly to get their attention. "So how long are you going to be in here, Kelsi?"

"Oh, um, the doctor said as soon as my parents get here and sign some papers I could go home." said Kelsi coming back to reality.

"Well, that's great." said Ryan. "Jason, we should be getting back to school."

"Why?" said Jason. "We've already missed every period except for final. And by the time we get back it'll be half over. We might as well just stay here."

"Oh, would you?" pleaded Kelsi looking at Ryan expectantly. "I mean, I don't want to keep you guys here, but I hate being in a hospital alone."

Ryan looked from Kelsi to Jason and back before he sighed. "It's Jason's decision to make since he's my ride."

"Well, then it's settled." said Jason sitting in a chair next to Kelsi's bed.

"Thanks guys." said Kelsi.

"No problem." said Ryan plopping into the chair next to Jason's. For the next four hours Ryan felt like clawing his eyes out as Jason and Kelsi talked the entire time while making goo-goo eyes at each other. Kelsi yawned for the fifth time in the last hour and finally decided to get some rest. Ryan made sure she was completely asleep before he got up and stood right in front of Jason. He leaned his hands on the arms of the chair and came really close to Jason's face. "What are you up to?" he whispered.

"What are you talking about?" Jason whispered back.

"I'm talking about how a few hours you had your tongue halfway down my throat, but now you act like Kelsi's the only person in the world." said Ryan.

"I just thought I could try being a little more friendly to Kelsi." said Jason.

"Well, you might want to tone down the friendliness." said Ryan.

"Why?" asked Jason. "Are you jealous?"

"I'm never jealous of other people." said Ryan. "Other people are jealous of me."

"Then I don't see any problems." said Jason. "It's not like I'm doing anything wrong."

"You really are hopeless." said Ryan lowering his head for a second. "If you've forgotten that girl right there," at that Ryan pointed over at Kelsi, "really likes you a lot. And when you act that friendly around her she might get some false hope."

"False hope of what?" said Jason.

"Seriously, can you be any stupider?" said Ryan exasperated with how slow how Jason could be sometimes.

"Yeah, I could be smoking joints between classes." said Jason.

"That was a low blow." said Ryan, after a moment of silence, glaring at him.

"Learned it from you." retorted Jason.

Ryan stood up straight and placed his hands in his pockets, while biting his lower lip. "You know, I think I'm going to walk home." Ryan walked over to the door and opened it. As he stood in the doorway he turned his head to look at Jason. "I hope you're happy. And tell Kelsi I said I'll see her tomorrow."

If he could have Ryan would have slammed the door behind him as he left.


	9. Good Bye and Good Riddance

_What was I thinking_, thought Ryan. _Walking three miles just so that I don't have to be near that idiot._ Currently Ryan was walking along one of the streets of his neighborhood. His feet were aching and he felt like he was going to collapse. _Why do I even care? So Kelsi thinks he likes her. She gets her heartbroken, cries a bit, and then she gets over her crush. __Everyone's happy and- Oh crap!_ As Ryan approached the Evans' mansion he could see his parent's cars in the driveway. _This means that tonight should be a very long night._

Ryan slowly turned the doorknob and pushed the door forward only far enough for him to squeeze through the gap. Carefully he pushed the door closed and slowly let go of the doorknob. He turned towards the inside of the house and tip-toed his way out of the foyer. When he made a left in the main hallway and turned to the stairway there was Sharpay standing right there on the first step with her hands on her hips.

"You are in so much trouble." was all she said before she walked past him and walked in the direction of their stepfather's solar. Ryan followed right behind her. When they entered the solar Ryan's mother was sitting on the leather couch by the window and his stepfather was sitting at his desk. His mother looked terrified with her head bent low and his stepfather had no expression at all and his eyes were closed with his hands folded in front of his face.

"Ducky," began his mother in a quivering voice. "Kitten has told us about some of the things you've been doing for the past two days."

"Snitch." whispered Ryan to Sharpay.

"Is it true, Ducky?" said his mother.

"Look for yourself." said Ryan.

His mother raised her head slowly and as soon as her eyes saw him she gasped and hid her face in her hands as the tears started to flow. Sharpay rushed to her mother's side and commenced in rubbing her mother's shoulders and trying to stop her tears. Ryan looked away from the sight of his distraught mother and turned his attention to his silent stepfather.

"What about you, Rick?" said Ryan. "Do you have anything to say about my new look? Or should I say my old look that you never allowed me to show anyone?" Rick didn't move at all. He just sat there with his eyes still closed and his hands folded in front of his mouth. Ryan walked over to his desk and leaned his hands on it. "So now you have nothing to say about how I run my life?" When Rick still didn't say anything Ryan just turned on his heel and walked to the door. "Then I guess you won't mind if I leave."

"I guess it's better than how you used to look." said Rick just as Ryan was about to leave.

Ryan turned around to look at Rick, who was smiling with his eyes still closed, and was genuinely confused. Of course he had expected Rick to say something, maybe even shout and yell at him, but he hadn't been counting on Rick to approve. Obviously his Sharpay and his mother were both surprised because they were also staring at Rick.

"What?" said Ryan at a loss for words.

"At least these clothes will make you look like less of a faggot." said Rick finally opening his eyes.

Sharpay's and her mother's mouths flew wide open at that comment, but a smirk appeared on Ryan's face. This was exactly what he needed.

"Well you don't have to worry about that Rick." said Ryan walking back into the room "There's always my boyfriend." Everyone looked at Ryan with a shocked expression at the word boyfriend, except Rick. He had that stupid smile on his face.

"Boyfriend?" whispered his mother, her voice even shakier than before.

"Yep," said Ryan.

"That won't be much of a problem." said Rick. "I am sure he and I can come to a reasonable amount for him never to talk to you again. Everyone has their price."

"And then there's my friend who I was making out with at lunch today." said Ryan.

"Jason." said Sharpay.

"Uh-huh. He was a really good kisser." said Ryan, smirking at the disgusted look that crossed Rick's face. "I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a price."

"Everyone has a price." said Rick.

"Not this guy." said Ryan.

"We'll see about that." said Rick. "Where does this Jason live?"

"You think you can just buy anything and anyone you want don't you?!" shouted Ryan, fed up with Rick's answers for everything.

"Why yes. I do." said Rick.

"Well then," said Ryan knowing one thing Rick couldn't counteract. "While you're out could you buy me more weed? I seem to be out." Ryan inwardly rejoiced at Rick's smirk fell from his face and was replaced by a look of despair. "Yeah, that would make a great headline for the papers. _Evans' Son Becomes Drug Addict, Blames It All On Step-Father_"

"You wouldn't dare go to the newspapers about that." said Rick standing from his chair.

"Oh yes I would." said Ryan defiantly. "And why stop there? Why not tell them about everything? About my dad, about my hair, about my name."

"Ryan!" shouted Sharpay. "This is enough!"

"Oh no, Sharpay." said Ryan. "This has just started. I have waited for years to have this conversation and I am not going to let it just pass me by. And you know what why just stick to newspaper? Why not tell all of your rich friends that think so much of you because you have the perfect family."

"Sharpay is right this is enough!" yelled Rick. "I want you out of this house! Now!"

"Fine!" said Ryan. "I'll be happy to finally leave this Stepford version of my life and get back to my real one!"

Ryan left the solar and went to his room to pack his stuff.

Later Ryan came down the stairs to the main hall with two suitcases and a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. Sharpay stood at the bottom of stairs with her arms crossed. From the look on her face she was not happy.

"You are such a hypocrite." hissed Sharpay.

"What are you talking about?" said Ryan walking past her.

"You're always talking about how I'm so selfish," said Sharpay following him. "But you are and always have been the selfish twin."

"I'm the selfish twin?!" said Ryan disbelievingly as he stopped and turned around.

"Yes," said Sharpay pointing a finger at his face. "Sure I sometimes lie, cheat, and do whatever it takes to be on top, but at least I consider other people's feelings, even though I don't really care about the next second."

"Yeah," said Ryan sarcastically as he pushed her finger away. "That makes you so unselfish."

"Well it makes me less selfish than you." said Sharpay. "For the past two days I've heard about nothing but you, you, you. All this stuff you're doing isn't because you want people to accept the 'real you', or because you want us remember Dad. You're doing all these stupid and crazy things because you want the spotlight to be on you." At this Ryan scoffed, but Sharpay continued, "Because you feel you never got enough attention in the past you want all of it now. Well guess what, you can have it. Just for once," said Sharpay, tears forming in her eyes, "admit that you are doing this for no one, but you."

The entire time Ryan had listened with a face of solidarity. When Sharpay was finished he readjusted his duffel bag and picked up his suitcases. "I gotta go." was all he said before he turned around and started to walk away. A few seconds later he was stopped dead in his tracks by somebody wrapping their arms around his waist and pressing their body against his back. "Even if you won't say it, I'll still miss you." said Sharpay.

When she let go Ryan said nothing. Sharpay watched as Ryan left the house and just stood and waited. Even when she heard his car start up she just stood still and waited. Even as the sound of his car driving away filled her ears before it disappeared she was rooted to her spot. She waited and waited and waited. She waited because she had already lost her father, she couldn't stand also losing her brother.


	10. Hey There Neighbor

A/N: So that no one gets confused. The story started on a Thursday, went on to Friday, and this chapter is taking place on a Sunday.

* * *

How did Jason get stuck with bringing a plate full of freshly baked brownies to a stranger's house? He had absolutely no idea. It was probably because he had been doing nothing for the entire day, but lying around on the couch watching television that had made his mother decide to force him to be the greeting committee of their new neighbor. So here he was, with a plate of brownies, standing on the doorstep of a person he hadn't even seen yet.

To tell the truth this person had come out of nowhere. Yesterday this house had been for sale and suddenly, overnight, someone had bought it and moved in in a few hours. The moving trucks had woken up nearly the whole neighborhood and when Jason's mother, being the head of the neighborhood watch, went to inquire the truck drivers about who moved in all they said was that they had only seen a kid.

Obviously Jason's mother had quickly gotten over this person's rude awakening of the neighborhood and was now sending them a welcome gift. And Jason was being forced to be messenger boy. As he knocked on the door he wondered who exactly had moved in. Could it be a woman? That would be a good guess since they do have a kid, but could also be a single dad. And exactly how old was this kid? All the truck driver had said was that the kid was a boy with blonde hair and very polite.

As Jason contemplated who his new neighbors were the door quietly opened and someone stepped out onto the doorstep in front of Jason. Jason was too deep in thought to even notice the person waving their hand in front of his face.

"Hello?" said the person trying to get his attention. When Jason still didn't respond the person took in a deep breath. "Wake up, Jason!" they bellowed. Jason was brought out of his thoughts so abruptly that he stumbled backwards, lost his balance, and toppled over onto his back. As Jason let out a groan from his impact with the concrete of the person's front walkway his new neighbor stood behind his head and peered down upon him. "You ok, Jason?" said the person with a small laugh.

The voice sounded like a guy. Actually it kind of sounded like a guy Jason knew. But that guy would never move to a neighborhood like Jason's. When Jason opened his eyes he was surprised to find another pair of electric blue eyes looking down at his cyan eyes. What was more surprising was who those eyes belonged to. It was none other than an upside down Ryan Evans.

"Ryan?" said Jason with disbelief. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you at home?"

"I am at home." said Ryan with a smile. "Well, new home actually, but it'll grow on me. Anyways I live here now."

"You . . . live here?" said Jason still not believing it.

"Uh, yeah." said Ryan blushing. "Do you think we could talk about this inside?"

"Sure." said Jason wanting to get off of the ground.

Ryan offered Jason his hand, which Jason gladly accepted and helped him to get off of the cold pavement. As they walked to the door Ryan looked back at the brownies that were now scattered all over his front yard. "Those looked good." he said disappointed that he didn't get to have at least one.

"Don't worry." said Jason. "I'm sure my mom will make you more."

"Thanks." said Ryan. "At least the ants will be happy."

Jason laughed as Ryan led him inside his new home and towards a small kitchen. There was an island in the center and a small alcove with a table and wall seat for eating. Also there was a combination convection microwave and oven and a sink on the island. The cabinets were made of mahogany with see through glass fronts and the counters were marble. A stainless steel refrigerator was right next to a four-burner stove. Ryan hopped up on the island while Jason sat down in the alcove.

"So you live here now?" said Jason.

"Yeah," said Ryan excitedly. "Isn't it great?!"

"Uh-huh," said Jason. "How's Sharpay handling the move?"

"Sharpay hasn't moved." said Ryan hopping off the island and going to the refrigerator.

"What do you mean?" said Jason also standing up.

"I mean," said Ryan closing the refrigerator with two bottles of waters in his hands, "I've moved here, but Sharpay hasn't."

"So you live here alone?" said Jason taking one of the waters.

"Pretty much." said Ryan.

"Nice." said Jason taking a sip of water.

"I know." said Ryan walking out of the kitchen. Jason followed Ryan into the foyer and across the hall into what appeared to be the living room. There was a wall covered in bookcases, a couch and two chairs, and a grand piano in one corner. Ryan sat in one of the chairs while Jason lay down on the couch and stretched. Ryan chuckled, "No problem making yourself at home, huh?"

"Yeah," said Jason, "It's a gift I have." Ryan laughed and got up from his seat. He sat down on Jason's legs and turned so that his feet were lying on Jason's stomach. "Man, now my shirt is going to be all dirty." said Jason in fake disappointment.

"I think your shirt is already dirty from that fall you had." said Ryan finishing off his water.

"I guess you're right." said Jason.

"You know you're probably making my couch dirty right now." said Ryan getting off of Jason.

"Guess so." said Jason not getting the hint.

"Get up!" shouted Ryan. Jason sprang right off the couch and off to the side. "Thank you," said Ryan, "So how's Kelsi?"

"She's fine." said Jason.

"Has she announced her undying love to you yet?" teased Ryan.

"Shut up." said Jason.

"I'm telling you," said Ryan. "The girl thinks you love her now. You'd better tell her the truth before things go too far."

"You're probably right." said Jason.

"No, I'm absolutely right." said Ryan. "And now it's time for you to go."

"What?" said Jason as he pushed into the foyer and out of the house by Ryan.

"I have a lot of unpacking to do if I'm going to be ready for school tomorrow." said Ryan as he stood in the doorway.

"Well, I can help you unpack." said Jason.

"Sorry," said Ryan, "Too many personal things. Don't want you seeing any of them. Besides you can come over tomorrow and get the full tour of the house."

"Ok." said Jason as the door was closed in his face.

Jason had a lot to think about as he walked back to his house. Having Ryan Evans in his neighborhood was definitely going to be interesting.


	11. Secrets Revealed

Sharpay worriedly bit her nails as she sat on the edge of the fountain in front of the school waiting for Ryan. Something she hadn't done ever since her father died. She hoped to god that he was safe and hadn't run off to some far away city or a different country. When she saw his car drive into the parking lot she let out a sigh of relief and stood up. As Ryan stepped out of his car she ran over to him and engulfed him in giant hug. She was even happier when she felt his arms wrap around her too.

"Nice to know someone missed me." said Ryan. Suddenly Sharpay let go of him and slapped him on the arm. "Ow! I guess I was wrong!"

"You jerk!" yelled Sharpay. "I was worried sick about you all weekend! Where did you go?!"

"I got a house." said Ryan walking towards the school.

"A house?!" said Sharpay following him. "You bought a house?! When?! Where?! With what?!"

"Saturday. In Jason's neighborhood. With my allowance." said Ryan answering her in order.

"Wait a minute," said Sharpay grabbing his arm to stop him. "You bought a house in Jason's neighborhood? But that's where the poor people live!"

"What are you talking about?" said Ryan disbelievingly. "Maybe you've forgotten, but we used to live there."

"Keep it down." said Sharpay in a whisper. "That's not the point. And how could you buy a house with your allowance? I don't even have enough allowance to buy a new car."

"Well, unlike you I put my allowance in the bank instead of spending $40,000 on clothes every week." said Ryan walking into the school.

"You don't actually expect me to wear the same clothes twice do you?" said Sharpay.

"Whatever. Can we drop this now?" said Ryan.

"For now." said Sharpay. "And don't forget, we have our first drama club meeting today."

"That reminds me," said Ryan, "I'm not doing drama club this year. See ya!"

Sharpay watched in shock as Ryan ran away down the halls and eventually disappeared around a corner. _He'd better hope_ _I don't find him alone, _thought Sharpay,_ or else he's so totally dead._

* * *

"Can you please cooperate with me for just once this year?" said Sharpay exasperatedly as she and Ryan sat down in homeroom.

"What's wrong now?" groaned Chad.

"Ryan won't join drama club this year." whined Sharpay.

"What?!" shouted everyone in disbelief.

"Excuse me!" screeched Ms. Darbus. "We are in a classroom!"

As Ms. Darbus continued with roll call everyone turned to look at Ryan.

"What do you mean you're not doing drama club?" whispered Gabriella.

"I mean I'm not joining drama club." said Ryan.

"Ryan we have been in drama club together ever since there was one." said Sharpay.

"Well, I don't want to be in drama club together this year." said Ryan.

"Why?" whined Sharpay.

"I'll join drama club with you." said Zeke hopefully.

"Oh, shut up, Zeke." said Sharpay dismissing him. Chad and Troy consoled disappointed Zeke as Sharpay pressed on. "Why, Ryan?" said Ryan.

"Because the only reason I joined drama club with you is because I promised someone I'd always watch over you." said Ryan.

"Who?" said Sharpay.

"That certain someone we're not supposed to talk about." said Ryan.

This shut Sharpay up because she turned away from Ryan and faced the front of the class. But it only fueled everyone else's curiosity.

"Wait who?" inquired Taylor.

"And why can't you can't you talk about them?" said Martha.

They didn't get an answer since the bell rang and Ryan and Sharpay rushed out of Ms. Darbus's class and ran off to first period.

* * *

"So who do you think the mysterious promise person is?" Gabriella asked Jason as they walked to Biology.

"I'm not sure." Jason lied, even though he knew all too well who it was.

"I don't believe you." said Gabriella.

"What?" said Jason.

"You heard me." said Gabriella. "I said 'I don't believe you'. Sharpay's been telling me about how close you and Ryan have gotten. She also told me that Ryan let out a dirty little secret at their party on Thursday."

"I promised Sharpay that I wouldn't tell anyone, Gabriella." said Jason.

"C'mon, Jason." begged Gabriella. "I won't tell a soul. I swear on my life."

Jason looked around the hall to make sure no one was around was to hear them. When he was sure no one was around he asked, "You swear?"

"I swear." said Gabriella holding her hand over her heart.

"Ok c'mere," whispered Jason as Gabriella leaned in closer. "The person Ryan promised is his father. And not the guy we think is his father, but his and Sharpay's actual birth father."

"Oh my god." gasped Gabriella putting a hand over her mouth.

"I know." said Jason. "I was shocked too."

"So why can't they talk about his father?" said Gabriella.

"Because he died when they were three." said Jason.

"That's awful. I can't believe they never told us about him." said Gabriella.

"You're not going to anyone right? Remember you swore." warned Jason.

"Don't worry. No one else will know." said Gabriella.

"Good. And don't let Sharpay know that you know. Don't act any differently than normal. Or else I might lose my life." said Jason.

"You can count on me." said Gabriella.

When Jason and Gabriella walked into Biology Gabriella sat next to Sharpay in the front and Jason sat with Ryan in the back.


	12. Can Anyone Say Dead Meat?

As soon as Jason walked into the cafeteria with Ryan he knew he was dead. The way Sharpay was glaring at him with her cold dark eyes said that she knew he told. When he looked at Gabriella she looked straight at the ground. And the way everyone else was looking at him and Ryan said that they knew something too.

"Why is everyone staring at us?" said Ryan.

"I don't know." Jason lied.

"Well I'm going to go find out." said Ryan walking over to the table. Jason walked behind him trying to escape Sharpay's stare. "What's going on?" asked Ryan as he sat down at the table. Jason slipped into the seat next to Gabriella glaring at her, even though she couldn't see it with her head down.

"You." hissed Sharpay pointing at Jason. "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone and then you go and tell the entire table."

"No I didn't." declared Jason. "Gabriella forced me tell her and then swore she wouldn't tell anyone else."

Sharpay's icy glare turned to Gabriella, whose head perked up when she heard her name being accused. When her eyes met Sharpay's she broke down. "It was Taylor!" she cried pointing at the girl. "She kept badgering me until I would tell her and then told everyone else."

Taylor gasped at the accusation and then turned to Sharpay. "I did not!" she said. When Sharpay's gaze still bore into her she also couldn't hold it in. "I might have let it slip to Chad, but he was the only one I told."

When Sharpay looked at Chad he just held his hands up. "Hey, I'll admit that I told everyone else. I didn't know it was a secret." said Chad.

"Danforth!" shouted Sharpay before taking a deep breath. "I will get to you soon enough," she said more calmly before going into an icy tone, "Of course that's after Cross, Montez, and McKessie. Why is everyone trying so hard to make me miserable?"

"Don't worry, Sharpay." said Ryan putting his arm around her shoulder. "I'm here for you."

"Oh, don't even try it you traitor." said Sharpay shrugging his arm off. "This all started because of you. First the drugs and then our father-"

"Drugs?!" shouted everyone at the table.

Sharpay instantly threw her hand over her mouth and Ryan just stared at her with an open mouth. Everyone's eyes were suddenly on Ryan, except for Jason's, who had his head lying on his arms on the table. When no one said anything for five whole minutes it was Chad who broke the silence.

"Would someone like to explain about the drugs?" he practically shouted.

"Why don't you say it louder, Chad?" said Ryan sarcastically. "I don't think they heard you on the second level."

"I'm sorry, but I just want to find out about these drugs." said Chad.

"Would you stop saying drugs?!" screamed Sharpay.

"What this about drugs?" inquired a voice. Everyone turned to see Principal Matsui standing right behind Ryan and Sharpay.

"Oh, uh-" stammered Sharpay, who was at a loss for words.

"It's a group project we're all working on in Health." interjected Ryan. "It's a-a-a PowerPoint. It's a PowerPoint about how drugs are bad for you and your body. And Chad seems to think that putting drugs in every single sentence that comes out of his mouth is a good thing."

"Oh, well I wish you all good luck." said Mr. Matsui. "I just came here to discuss something with Ryan. It has come to my attention that Mr. Evans's address has changed, but your sister's has not. Could you two please explain this to me in my office?"

"Sure." said the Evans twins. As Principal Matsui walked away Ryan and Sharpay got up from their seats and quickly turned back to the table. "When this is all over you, you, and you are in trouble." said Ryan pointing to Jason, Gabriella, and Chad. Taylor smiled as she was off the hook, but it disappeared when Sharpay added, "You too McKessie."

When Ryan and Sharpay were gone from the cafeteria Jason, Gabriella, Taylor, and Chad each gulped, afraid for their lives. After all hell hath no fury like an Evans scorned.


	13. Welcome to Your Nightmare

A/N: First of all I'd like to thank Sandshrew777 for all the constructive criticism. I think you're the first to actually tell me about the crappy part of my writing. And secondly to musicfreak1107, thank you for catching my mistake with Ryan's hair and the truck driver. For a second I forgot I changed his hair color. Just ignore that little mistake.

* * *

When Lunch had ended Ryan and Sharpay still hadn't come back from the principal's office the gang began to worry. That is except for Jason, Gabriella, Taylor, and Chad, who were glad that they still had some more time to live. Even when Ryan and Sharpay finally returned to their class with late passes they didn't say a word to anyone. They just avoided the. Even when Jason tried to approach Ryan during P.E. Ryan would just walk away and do something else. After final period ended everyone was surprised to find Ryan and Sharpay waiting for them by the fountain with wide smiles.

"Hey guys." said Sharpay warmly.

"Hey, Sharpay." said Gabriella suspiciously.

"We were wondering if you guys would like to come see my new house?" said Ryan also warmly.

"You have a new house, Ryan?" asked Troy.

"You mean Jason didn't tell you?" said Ryan looking at Jason with his eerily happy smile.

"Look, Ryan I'm really sorry-" started Jason.

"Don't worry about it." said Ryan. "Just say you guys will be there."

"Sure." said the group.

"Great." said Sharpay and Ryan as they turned around and walked to their cars. The gang watched as the Evans twins left wondering what exactly just happened.

* * *

"Ok, so if anyone sees anything suspicious then we run. Agreed?" said Troy as the gang stood on Ryan's doorstep. 

When everyone was agreed Troy rang the door bell and a few minutes later the door was opened by Ryan. "Hey guys come on in." said he said moving out of the way. Everyone walked past Ryan and walked further into the house. Suddenly there was a slam and click which caused everyone to jump. Slowly they turned around to see Ryan locking multiple locks that were on the door. When he was done he turned to look at them all with a huge grin. "Welcome my home." he said.

"And to your worst nightmare."

Everyone turned to see Sharpay standing behind them also with a creepy grin

"AHHHH!" they all screamed at the terror that awaited them.

* * *

"Make it stop!" shouted Chad as he covered his ears and writhed on the floor of the living room. 

"The horror! The horror!" screamed Troy who was right next to Chad on the floor.

"My ears! They're bleeding!" yelled Jason, who was on the couch with Gabriella, who was hiding her head in her shirt, right next to him

"I can't take it anymore!" screamed Taylor who was banging on the locked door of the living room.

Ryan watched with a smirk as everyone was suffering from this torture. Who could possibly withstand Sharpay's voice as she screeched out old KISS rock songs? Luckily Ryan had earplugs to block out the sounds of his sister's voice. He knew that this sort of punishment seemed kind of cruel and his friends probably didn't deserve it, but it had to be done. Eventually the last song ended and Ryan pulled out his earplugs. Sharpay was breathing heavily from two hours of non-stop screaming. Troy and Chad were lying limp on the floor, while Jason, Gabriella, and Kelsi were cowering on the couch, Taylor and Martha were slumped against the living room door, and Zeke was . . . bowing at Sharpay's feet?

"Oh that was absolutely wonderful, Sharpay." praised Zeke. "No matter what you sing your voice always sounds beautiful."

_That boy is either crazy,_ thought Ryan_, or really desperate_. Sharpay seemed to be thinking the same thing as she watched Zeke begin to kiss her feet. She screamed and jumped onto the piano.

"That boy has some serious issues." whispered Sharpay.

"Is it finally over?" asked Martha timidly.

"I don't know." said Kelsi. "My ears went numb half an hour ago."

"Are Chad and Troy still alive?" said Gabriella, who had removed her head from its hiding place.

Jason went over and poked both Chad and Troy until they both started laughing. It was a good thing they were ticklish or else he would have thought they were dead.

"It's a miracle, Chad!" shouted Troy.

"We're alive!" said Chad as he and Troy hugged each other.

"Enough of the dramatics!" yelled Sharpay. "That's my department."

"No arguments there." muttered Ryan.

"Shut up." said Sharpay.

"Ok," said Ryan standing up from the piano bench, "Now that the torture part of the evening is over let's get down to business."

"My parents know where I am right now." warned Jason.

"We're not going to kill you." said Ryan.

"Then what were you trying to do a few minutes ago?" asked Taylor.

"We were teaching you guys a lesson." said Sharpay. "When you make a promise to an Evans, you keep that promise. And if you don't, then you pay."

"Well, we've learned our lesson." said Martha. "Can we go now?"

"Not until you all promise to keep what you have learned to yourselves." said Sharpay.

"We promise!" they all shouted at once.

"Good." said Ryan as he pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the living room door. As he walked to the front door everyone quickly followed behind him. He unlocked all of the locks that were keeping the door closed, and before he opened it he turned to everyone else. "And remember, even though we won't kill you we can hire somebody else to."

When he opened the door the gang ran out of the house and into their cars to drive home. Ryan closed the door and walked back into the living room to find Sharpay lying on top of the piano again. He leaned against the piano and rested his chin on his folded arms.

"That was fun." said Sharpay.

"Yeah, we should do that more often." said Ryan.

"Do you have any ice cream? I suddenly have a craving." said Sharpay.

"Yeah, c'mon." said Ryan standing up straight.

When Sharpay was off the piano Ryan wrapped his arm around her shoulder and they walked into the kitchen to have a bite of ice cream.


	14. It's My Pizza

Jason rang the door bell of Ryan's house as he stood on the doorstep. When no one came to answer the door he lifted the welcome mat that Ryan had recently placed on the doorstep and pulled out the spare key that was under it. Coming over to Ryan's had become a daily activity of Jason's, and since he was coming over so much Ryan told him where he had placed the spare key. Placing the key into lock and turned it until he heard the click of the door unlocking. He placed the key back under the mat and walked into the house.

"Ryan!" he called as he walked further into the house. He checked the kitchen first, but Ryan wasn't in there. Yet, that didn't stop him from raiding the fridge for a bite to eat. As he scanned the fridge shelves his eyes landed on a pizza box. Opening it he found a single slice of pepperoni and extra cheese pizza. Grabbing the pizza and taking a bite he relished in its flavor.

_Pizza always tastes better cold_, thought Jason as he closed the refrigerator. He crossed the foyer munching on his pizza. When he entered the living room Ryan was standing in the corner with an easel and paints, facing into the room. Ryan was focused on his painting that he didn't even notice Jason enter the room and walk up next to him eating pizza. It was probably because of the headphones that were placed in his ears, while he mouthed the lyrics to the song he was listening to. Jason peered at the painting and was amazed by what lay on the canvas. It was a rendition of the living room, only it looked livelier, more beautiful, more real than the actual room.

"It looks great!" shouted Jason in Ryan's ear without thinking.

Ryan gasped and dropped his paint and paintbrush onto the floor. He looked down at the paint that was splashed and smeared all over the carpet that would definitely stain. Kneeling down to the floor he picked it all up off of the floor and surprise when he saw another hand pick up one of the paints. Following the arm up he came face-to-face with Jason who took another bite from his pizza.

"Hey!" said Ryan pulling the headphones out of his ears, "That's my pizza!"

"Oh," said Jason handing Ryan the paint, "Sorry. You want some?" offered Jason.

"No thanks." said Ryan placing the paints on the easel. "I was saving that."

"Again, really sorry." said Jason.

"Seriously, what am I?" said Ryan walking out of the living room. "You're second home. You come over whenever you want; you take anything you want without even asking."

"It was just a slice of pizza." said Jason following Ryan as he went to the hall closet. "You can always buy some more."

Ryan closed the hall closet and turned around to face Jason with a Rug Doctor in his hands. "You just don't get it. That was my only cold slice of pizza. Pizza always tastes better when it's cold."

"I know." said Jason as he followed Ryan back into the living room. "That's why I took it. I love cold pizza."

"Really?" said Ryan plugging in the machine. "My dad used to love cold pizza. It's because of him that I even ate cold pizza. Mom thought it was unhealthy and Sharpay hates anything cold, except her attitude. But Dad," started Ryan with a glint in his eye, "he thought cold pizza was the best meal in the world. Every week he would buy a pizza, put it in the refrigerator, and the next day me and him would eat the whole thing. It was the best."

"You like talking about your dad, don't you?" said Jason sitting on the couch.

"Yeah," said Ryan sitting next to Jason on the couch, "he's the greatest person I've ever known."

"Well then," pushed Jason, "Talk about him."

"How about after you clean the paint on my carpet?" said Ryan.

"Me?!" said Jason pointing at himself.

"It's your fault that it's there in the first place." accused Ryan.

"Fine." said Jason walking over to the machine.

Ryan picked up the paints and placed them on the piano before picking up the canvas and easel and setting them in the foyer. Jason turned on the Rug Doctor and began to clean the paint off of the rug. When he was finally done he unplugged the machine and returned it to the hall closet. He came back into the living room and sat down on the couch beside Ryan.

"Now talk." demanded Jason.

"Where do you want me to begin?" said Ryan.

"I don't know," said Jason, "How about . . . you start with what he looked like."

"Ok," started Ryan, "Well, he was a few inches taller than I am right now and he had these really light green eyes. He also had . . . you know what I? I have a picture of him," said Ryan getting up, "Wait right here."

Jason waited on the couch as Ryan left the room and soon returned with a brown leather tome. On the cover, in golden script, were the words:

**_The Album_**

"What's this?" asked Jason.

"It's my family album." said Ryan. "Almost every single moment of mine and Sharpay's lives are in here. My mom has always kept it safe, but when I left I stole it. I just couldn't let it stay in that house where it could collect dust and be forgotten. Everything that I have lost is in this book and I would have killed myself if I left it in with them. I mean-"

"I get it." interrupted Jason. "The book is very important to you."

"Sorry about that." apologized Ryan holding the book to his chest. "Anyway, this book is my life." He opened the book to the first page. There was an enlarged photo of two sleeping babies lying next to each other on a quilt. They looked exactly the same as they slept away.

"You and Sharpay, I'm guessing?" said Jason.

"Exactly," said Ryan turning the page. There was another enlarged photo of a wedding. A man and a woman were standing outside of a chapel. The woman was obviously Ryan and Sharpay's mother, except younger. It was harder to tell what the man looked like since his face was blurred. "He was turning his head when the picture was taken." explained Ryan. "Dad just couldn't hold still that day. He said it was because he was so happy that he married the girl of his dreams."

On the opposite page was a photo of the same babies from before, except they were dressed in a little suit and dress.

"Is that you and Sharpay too?" said Jason.

"Uh, yeah." said Ryan. "We were a few months old when our parents got married."

"So you were at your parent's wedding?" said Jason.

"Don't judge." said Ryan. "It's not like our parents never planned to get married. They just happened to have us before they actually did marry. It's very common."

"And since when are the Evans common?' said Jason.

"Before they were Evans." replied Ryan.

"What?" said Jason confused.

"Look at the caption." said Ryan pointing to a sentence below the wedding picture.

Jason hadn't noticed it before. Now that he looked he could see the sentence written in black ink below the photo. It read:

**_Mr. and Mrs. Morley_**

"Morley?" contemplated Jason. "For some reason that sounds familiar."

"It'd better." said Ryan.

"What's that supposed to mean?" said Jason looking at him.

"Nothing," said Ryan turning the page in the album. "And here's my dad." Jason looked at the page and saw a photo of a smiling man. He had hair like Ryan's, except straighter and not all spiky. His eyes looked exactly like Ryan had described them bright green, but also with a little brown. There was a thin moustache on his upper lip and a mix between a goatee and a beard on his chin. "God, I miss him." said Ryan.

"What was he like?" said Jason.

"He was the coolest dad you could ask for." said Ryan. "Whenever he caught Sharpay and me doing something wrong or anything he would never yell or shout, he'd never ground us or anything, even when we lied about it, he'd just laugh and then buy us some ice cream. And every day after we finally grew some teeth Dad would take Sharpay and me to the park in the city and buy us hot dogs from the hot dog cart. They were the best hot dogs in the entire world. The only food that even came close to cold pizza in my dad's books."

At this point Ryan had closed the album and placed it on the floor, and Jason was so wrapped up in Ryan's story that he wouldn't even notice a pink elephant in the room.

"And whenever my mom would make something bad for dinner, like Brussels sprouts, or cabbage, or asparagus, he'd take them from mine and Sharpay's plates when she wasn't looking and feed them to the dog. But whenever the dog wouldn't eat it then we'd get caught." said Ryan laughing.

"You had a dog?" said Jason.

"Yeah," said Ryan more sober. "We got him when me and Sharpay were almost two. His name was Cooper."

"What happened to Cooper?" said Jason.

Ryan hesitated for a moment before he answered, "He ran away when we found out our dad was sick."

Jason instantly regretted asking when Ryan began to sniffle a bit and wiped away a stray tear. "I'm so sorry, Ryan." he apologized.

"No problem." said Ryan putting on a smile. "You know I've been telling you about my family and you haven't told me a thing about yours. Why don't you tell me about _your_ dad?"

"My dad?" said Jason.

"Yeah," said Ryan perking up. "I mean, it's only fair."

"Well," said Jason. Now it was Jason's turn to hesitate before he spoke, "My dad left us when I was six."

"Oh," said Ryan back in a sober mood. "I guess it's my turn to say sorry now."

"No, no. It's not your fault you were curious." said Jason. "It's my fault that I always expect you to talk about your life without me talking about mine."

"You know you kind of remind of my dad." said Ryan.

"Really?" said Jason.

"Yeah," whispered Ryan leaning closer to Jason, "But there's one difference."

"What's that?" asked Jason also leaning in so he could hear Ryan better.

"I'd never fall in love in with my dad." said Ryan before he leaned in to plant his lips on Jason's.

It took a few seconds before Jason responded back and deepened the kiss. Soon they were so enraptured by the kiss that they didn't hear the door bell ring, and they didn't see someone come to the living room window and see them kissing, and they never knew that that person ran off to tell their best friend exactly what they saw . . . after taking a picture of the two, of course.

* * *

A/N: Just to give everyone a clear picture of what Ryan's dad looks like I imagined looking like Matthew Settle, the guy that plays Mr. Humphrey on Gossip Girl. 


	15. Back Home

"So what exactly was the promise?" asked Sharpay as she put a spoonful of fudge brownie ice cream into her mouth.

"What?" asked Ryan also taking a spoonful.

This had also become a tradition in Ryan's new home. Every day Sharpay would sneak over to his house and they'd sit down together in the kitchen eating ice cream. Ryan looked at her as she took another spoonful.

"The promise you made to Dad." she said with a full mouth. "What was it?"

"Oh," said Ryan. "That promise. The one we talked about on Monday?"

"Stop stalling and talk." said Sharpay pointing her spoon at her.

"Or what?" laughed Ryan. "You'll beat me with your spoon?"

"I just might." said Sharpay with a smile.

"You sure you want me to tell you?" said Ryan more seriously.

"Get on with it!" said Sharpay impatiently. "God, you can be _so_ annoying."

"God, you can be _such_ a Drama Queen." said Ryan imitating his sister. "Fine, I'll tell you."

"Finally." Sharpay sighed.

"Ok," started Ryan, "Well, you remember the day when Dad died."

"I wish I could forget." said Sharpay sadly.

"Well, you remember how we each got some time alone with him?" said Ryan.

"Yeah." said Sharpay taking one more spoonful.

"Well, he asked me to do something and I promised him I would." said Ryan.

_

* * *

A three-year-old Ryan knocked on the door of his father's hospital room._

_"Come in." came a sickly voice._

_Ryan pushed the door open and walked into the tiny roo__m. He walked over to the bed where his sick father was laying. Hopping up into the chair by the bed he rested his hands on one of his dad's._

_"You're going to be ok, right Daddy?" asked little Ryan._

_"I wish I could say yes, son." said his father. "But I won't be around much longer. So I need you to do something for me."_

_"What?" asked Ryan._

_"You know that __I love you and your sister so much right?" asked his dad._

_"Yeah." answered Ryan._

_"And that you two can do whatever you want and be whoever you to be right?" asked his dad._

_"Yeah." Ryan repeated._

_"Well, even though your sister acts she doesn't needs anyone's help, she does need yours." said his father. "That's why I want you to watch over your sister and help her do whatever it is she wants to do."_

_"Ok, Daddy." said Ryan. "I will."_

_"But don't you ever forget about your own dreams." warned his dad. "Just because you and your sister are twins doesn't mean you have to have the same dreams. You are smart, you are strong, and you are one of a kind. Don't ever forget that."_

_"I promise." said Ryan._

_"Good." said his father. "I love you so much. Now go get your mother so I can talk to her."_

_"Ok." said Ryan getting off of the chair._

_He walked to the door and looked at his father for the last time before he would die. When he went outside he got his mother and she went inside. A few minutes later she came out crying and doctors went rushing into the room._

* * *

"And that's the promise that I made to Dad." said Ryan taking the last spoonful of ice cream there was.

"How come you never told me about it?" asked Sharpay surprised that she had never known about this promise.

"Because if I did you would've used it to make me your personal slave." said Ryan.

Sharpay gasped in shock, "I would never do such a thing. How could you say something like that?"

"That's easy. Whenever you learn some gossip about a person you blackmail them into doing whatever you tell them to do. Like when you learned the head cheerleader isn't a natural blond. Or when you found out the JV soccer team sold the mascot costume to buy beer." explained Ryan.

"Oh, I remember that one." said Sharpay thinking of her past slaves. "How could I pass up an opportunity like that? And besides you got the captain's phone number because of that."

"And he was a complete jerk." said Ryan.

"Just be grateful." said Sharpay.

"Besides, if I told you then you would have told me to leave you alone and just let you do it by yourself." said Ryan.

"You're probably right." said Sharpay playing with her spoon.

"I'm always right." said Ryan.

"I was an independent little munchkin, wasn't I?" said Sharpay with a smile.

"Independent? Cold-hearted? Whichever one you want to use." said Ryan.

"Shut up." she said playfully hitting him on the arm. Ryan lightly bumped into her with his shoulder and she did the same back to him. They both burst into laughter as they dumped their spoons into the sink. Suddenly Sharpay remembered something. "Hey, where's the album?" she said.

"So you guys noticed it was gone?" said Ryan said as they walked to the back of his house and into his room. He opened his closet and pulled the leather book from the shelf at the top.

"Mom went to look for it the day after you left and couldn't find it." said Sharpay sitting on his bed with him. "She's had the servants looking high and low, in every nook and cranny, turning over every speck of dust. It's insane."

"Well, tell her I'm sorry," said Ryan opening the book to the first page. "But I had to take it. It wouldn't be right to come back here and not bring it home."

"What do you mean?" asked Sharpay.

Ryan suddenly looked at Sharpay with a Sharpay with a serious expression. "You really don't remember do you?"

"Remember what?" said Sharpay not getting what she didn't remember.

"Our old house?" tried Ryan.

"What about it?" said Sharpay still not getting it.

"Just look." said Ryan. He flipped through the pages in the album until it came to a picture of a house that greatly resembled Ryan's. There was the front walk, the kitchen window, and the garage connected to the side of the house. "Now do you remember?" he asked.

Sharpay looked at the picture closely. And then something clicked in her head. Suddenly she could see a swing set the front yard and a little boy and girl chasing each other come out of nowhere. "This is our old house." she barely whispered.

"Exactly." said Ryan closing the book. When the tears started to flow from Sharpay's eyes he pulled her into his arms and just let her ride it out. Eventually the tears reduced to dull hiccups and Sharpay was wiping the tear streaks from her face. Ryan let go of her picked up the album again. Now he opened the book to the page of their father and Sharpay leaned her head on his shoulder as they just stared at it.

"I can't believe I forgot." said Sharpay, the hiccupping gone.

"Don't worry, I don't blame you." said Ryan. "I didn't recognize it at first either. I had to look in the album to make sure it was the one."

"So that's why you decided to buy this place?" asked Sharpay. "Because it's our old house?"

"Everyone wants to come back to the house they grew up in." said Ryan.

"I love you, Ry." said Sharpay hugging her brother.

"I love you too, Shar." said Ryan still holding the book open.

For an hour they just stayed like that, hugging and staring at their father's picture. Until their mother called Sharpay's phone and she had to leave. Even after she left Ryan spent the rest of the day laying in bed, looking at his dad.


	16. Want A Smoke?

"Sharpay!" shouted Gabriella as she reached her and Troy's secret place. "What are you doing?!"

Sharpay was sitting on the bench with a look of guilt on her mouth, and a lighted cigarette in her mouth. She quickly grabbed it from her mouth and threw it over her shoulder.

"Nothing!" she declared before coughing a little.

"You're smoking?!" said Gabriella coming closer to her friend.

"No." said Sharpay through her coughing fit.

"Yes you are!?" said Gabriella. "I saw you with that cigarette. And you can't stop coughing!"

"It's my allergies." said Sharpay. "All these flowers are making me sick."

"Oh please," said Gabriella. "You've been up here so many times since I showed you, and never once have you ever sneezed or sniffled."

"Ok, Dr. Gabi." said Sharpay throwing her hands in defeat. "I might have been having one, I repeat one, tiny, little, smoke. There's no harm in just one."

"Sharpay," started Gabriella sitting next to her best friend, "It starts out as just one little cigarette every once in a while, but then it turns into a little one every day. Then two little ones every day. And soon you'll be smoking all day long."

"Whatever." said Sharpay completely ignoring Gabriella.

"Whatever, nothing." said Gabriella holding out her hand. "Give them to me."

"What?!" holding her purse close to her chest.

"I said 'give them to me.'" repeated Gabriella slowly.

"No way!" shouted Sharpay. "Get your own!"

"Sharpay, listen to yourself." said Gabriella holding Sharpay's arms. "You're going crazy over something that you don't even need!"

"Don't tell me what I need and don't need." said Sharpay brushing Gabriella's hands off of her. "And FYI I do need these. They help me get rid of stress."

"Like how Ryan's drugs help him get rid of stress?" said Gabriella.

"Don't you dare compare me and cigarettes to Ryan and his drugs." said Sharpay holding up a finger. "They are two completely different situations."

"You know what?" said Gabriella with a plan. "You're right."

"I am?" said Sharpay suspiciously.

"Yeah," continued Gabriella. "I mean Ryan will probably just end up in a coma from all the drugs he's doing. While you with your cigarettes . . . you'll just get early wrinkles, bags under your eyes, blotchy skin. Heck, by the time you're twenty you'll look seventy."

"Ahh!" screamed Sharpay. She reached into her purse, grabbed the pack of cigarettes, and threw them over the balcony. With a huff she turned to back to Gabriella with a pointed glare. "We don't ever talk about this again." she warned.

"Of course not, Sharpay." said Gabriella with a sweet smile.

"And if you ever talk about my face looking old again I'll rip you a new-"

"Let's just hug!" interrupted Gabriella as she pulled Sharpay into a hug.

"Whatever." said Sharpay with a smile before returning the hug. "And thanks."

"That's what friends are for." said Gabriella. "Now why would you ever start smoking?"

"I thought we agreed that we'd never talk about this again." said Sharpay.

"Exactly," said Gabriella, "Which is why I want a full explanation now."

"You just have to be smart about everything, don't you?" said Sharpay.

"Force of habit." replied Gabriella. "Now talk."

"Fine," started Sharpay, "Well I needed a release for all of this stress and anger. It was my mother who pointed it out. She said I was starting to form frown lines." Here Sharpay pulled out her compact mirror to check her forehead for any lines or creases. "Anyway," she continued, "She told me I should try yoga because it was great for relaxation. I think she only suggested it because she and Ryan used to do it together all the time and she really misses him, even thought she won't admit it, and-"

"Getting off track!" warned Gabriella.

"Sorry." said Sharpay. "Anyway, I am not flexible enough for something like yoga and I would never do anything that involved me working, or sweating. So I decided to do something that was common, yet fashionable. Smoking."

"How is smoking fashionable?!" said Gabriella with disbelief.

"All the famous movie stars and singers do it." said Sharpay.

"That doesn't make it ok!" said Gabriella. "Sharpay, what were you thinking?!"

"I was thinking," said Sharpay fiercely, "That I was stressed out, angry, tired, and that my brother had just been kicked out! I'm sorry for not being able to make a clear decision in such a critical time of my life!"

"That's no excuse!"

"You don't know how hard it is, Gabriella!" screamed Sharpay tears flowing from her eyes. "To lose your father when you're just three years old! Have your mother marry a guy that you've never even met before! Having to change your entire life because it's not good enough for someone else! Losing your brother to drugs and then he moves out because he hates all the lies! Learning he's gay by catching him and your first crush in bed together!"

"What?!" shouted Gabriella as Sharpay covered her mouth with her hands. "You caught Ryan in bed with whom?!"

"My first crush," croaked out Sharpay. "Kevin Madison."

"You mean the Varsity baseball pitcher?" asked Gabriella. Sharpay could only nod her head weakly. "When did this happen?"

"The summer before freshman year." whispered Sharpay.

"So the Varsity baseball pitcher is gay?" questioned Gabriella.

"You're not surprised Ryan is gay?" said Sharpay looking at Gabriella.

"Well, with the old clothes that he used to wear I kind of guessed it." confessed Gabriella.

"Hey," said Sharpay offended. "I picked out those clothes."

"And you don't see the problem with that?" said Gabriella indicating Sharpay's clothes.

Sharpay looked down at what she was wearing. Black jeans that had the words Prom Queen written in gold, a silk white blouse, a sequent red vest, and a black fedora. "I don't see what you mean." said Sharpay confused.

"Never mind." laughed Gabriella. Sharpay laughed to and the girls shared one more hug before the bell rang, signaling fourth period had begun. "Oh no," said Gabriella as she and Sharpay got up and ran down the stairs, "First week of school and we're already going to be late for class."

"Hey, why'd you come up here in the first place?" asked Sharpay.

"Oh," said Gabriella suddenly remembering, "Ryan said he needed to show you something that he found this morning."

"What?" asked Sharpay.

"I don't know." said Gabriella. "I think he said it was about something in the newspaper."


	17. Tabloids and Kisses

Sharpay and Gabriella walked into the library during study hall to find Jason and Ryan sitting at a table blankly looking at the front page of a newspaper. "So what's the urgent news for today?" asked Sharpay as she and Gabriella took seats opposite of the boys.

"Have you seen today's newspaper?" said Ryan with a quivering voice.

"No." said Sharpay.

"Why?" asked Gabriella.

"This is why." said Jason throwing the paper on the table in front of them. Sharpay and Gabriella gasped at the picture that covered the front page. It was a picture of Ryan and Jason kissing on Ryan's sofa. What was worse was the headline that read:

**Riches to Rags Ryan Evans Finds New Boyfriend**

"Did either of you two have anything to do with this?" asked Ryan venomously.

"Do you seriously think that we would have the cruel, sick guts to do this?" asked Sharpay.

"Well, did Rick do it?" asked Ryan.

"It couldn't be Rick." reasoned Sharpay. "He'd never do anything that would threaten the honor of the Evans name."

"Well, someone did it." accused Ryan. "And it was obviously someone in the group because only they know that I moved."

"You aren't seriously suggesting that one of our friends actually sold you out, are you?" said Sharpay.

"Well who else could have done it?" asked Ryan.

"Hey, guys." said Gabriella.

"Yeah." said Sharpay and Ryan turning to look at her.

"There's more inside the newspaper." she said.

"What?!" they shouted, earning a shushing from the librarian.

"Read it, Gabi." whispered Ryan.

"Well it says," started Gabriella, "_Thanks to an anonymous source we __might __have found the next Britney, and he's a guy. Local rich boy, Ryan Evans, finally shows his true colors as he rebels against his stepfather, that's right, stepfather._

_"Apparently Ryan and Sharpay, 17, lost their real father fourteen years ago at the age of three. When their mother, Lillian, 43, met Rick Evans, 47, it was love at first sight, or should we say love at first sight of money. As soon as Lillian found out Rick was rich they were engaged in no time. And who says all gold diggers are young?_

_"After their marriage young Ryan and Sharpay were embraced by the good life. Sharpay was happy with the change, but little Ryan wasn't. Forced to change his naturally dark brunette hair to brightly blond, Ryan was, least to say, very upset. But that wasn't the only change. Apparently the clothes that Ryan wished to wear which included black, black, and more black were shoved into the trash and replaced with the most flamboyant clothes a boy ask for.__ Not only that he was signed up for singing and dancing lessons, along with his sister, and they became the dynamic acting duo they are today. _

_"I__ guess Ryan finally became tired of all the crap that step daddy tried to force down his throat because when he came back to school this fall the flamboyant clothes were gone and the black came out, along with the brunette hair. The change must have been a little too much for Rick because little Ryan was quickly kicked out of house and onto the streets. Then again it might have been the change that upset Rick, but the drugs. _

_"Yes it's true. Innocent Ryan Evans had start taking up the pipe inside the house and also inside school. But an Evans always lands on their feet and Ryan soon found a new home to smoke up. And he didn't bother waiting to break in the home before inviting his boy toy, Jason Cross, 17, over for an intense make out session. According to our source this happens every day of the week__, even though Ryan already has a boyfriend, who shall remain nameless_

_"I guess Jason just can't get enough of bad boy of Ryan Evans. And who would have guessed that Ryan Evans was gay? Scratch that. Who__ wouldn't have? The good looks, the flamboyant clothes, the singing, the acting, and the jazz __squares. Although it did come as a surprise to his sister when she found him in bed with her first crush, Kevin Madison, 17, now the Varsity baseball pitcher. Talk about betrayal. Wonder how Sharpay ever learned to trust her backstabbing brother again after that?"_

"Ok, Gabi!" said Ryan holding a hand up. "I've heard enough!'

"I'm so sorry about this, Ryan." said Gabriella folding the newspaper.

"Don't worry, Gabi." said Ryan calmly. "Because I know who the leak is now."

"Who?" said Jason ready to punch whoever it was.

"Sharpay." said Ryan pointing a finger at the girl.

"What?!" said Sharpay in shock.

"Who else knows about the whole Kevin Madison thing besides you and me, _Sharpay_?" said Ryan.

"As far as I know nobody." said Sharpay. "But for all I know you could have told somebody else, _Ryan_."

"I haven't told a soul." hissed Ryan.

"Well neither have I." said Sharpay threateningly.

"Hey, Ryan." said voice behind the boy. Ryan turned around to see Jesse walking by. Jesse looked the newspaper for a second before looking at Ryan with a smile. "Nice picture." he said before disappearing behind a bookcase.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" said Ryan angrily, getting up from his chair. He went behind the same bookcase he saw Jesse go behind and found the boy waiting for him. "What's going on, Jesse?"

"Why don't you tell me, Ryan?' said Jesse stepping closer to Ryan. "You're the one that's sneaking around with the basket jock after all."

"Are you responsible for that picture?" asked Ryan.

"No," said Jesse nonchalantly, "Chester is, but the entire story was my idea. I mean, it was so easy. You practically handed it to me on a platter."

"What are you talking about?" said Ryan.

"Well, let me put it this way." said Jesse. "You'll tell a person anything when you're high. Even when they don't ask you to." Ryan's body suddenly became very rigid. "That's right," said Jesse with a sinister chuckle, "The first time I got you high you told me about half of your entire life story. My favorite part was when you told me about Kevin Madison and your sister," said Jesse now whispering in Ryan's ear. "I thought it was hot."

Jesse brought his body closer to Ryan's, but Ryan just backed away, and ended up bumping into the book case behind him. Taking the opportunity Jesse pinned Ryan to the bookcase.

"Back off you creep." spat Ryan.

"Oh," said Jesse with fake sadness. "You don't love me anymore?"

"Trust me." said Ryan. "I never did love you."

"Now that really hurt my feelings, Ry." said Jesse nibbling on Ryan's ear. "After all, I do love you so much."

"You mean the same way you love Chester," retorted Ryan. "Or the same way you love all your other stoner guy friends?"

Jesse stopped his nibbling and looked Ryan in the face. "You knew about Chester?"

"Who didn't?" said Ryan with a smirk. "The way he follows you around, how he agrees with everything you say, how he won't even breathe unless you tell him to. He adores you way too much to be just a friend. There's got to be some benefits."

"So is that what you thought me and you were?" said Jesse. "Just friends with benefits?"

"It might have crossed my mind." said Ryan sarcastically.

"That's too bad." said Jesse. "You always were more important to me than all the others."

"Aww," said Ryan with fake affection. "Now that makes me feel really special."

"Fine," said Jesse. "Does this mean you don't want to be my boyfriend anymore?"

"What do you think?" said Ryan.

"I think that it doesn't really matter what you want," said Jesse kissing Ryan roughly on the lips. "You're mine and you always will be, Ryan."

As much as he didn't want to Ryan couldn't help himself, but respond to the kiss. _Damn it_, he thought, _why did he have to be such a good kisser?_ When Jesse pulled away Ryan tried to look at him with disgust, but he was too flustered from the kiss.

"Does that mean that you choose me over the basketball jock?" said Jesse hopefully.

"I think it does." said a voice.

Both Jesse and Ryan turned their heads to see Jason standing at the end of the bookcase staring at them.

"Jason!" Ryan tried, but Jason was already heading for the library doors. Pushing Jesse off of him Ryan ran from behind the bookcase, past two very bewildered girls, and through the library doors after Jason.


	18. Sorry

"C'mon, Jason!" shouted Ryan as he searched the halls for the boy. "I'm sorry! It's wasn't what it looked like!" Ryan instantly stopped dead in his tracks and slapped himself on the forehead. _I cannot believe I said something so cliché_, he thought.

"Ryan!' shouted a voice. Ryan spun around, hoping to see Jason coming to accept his apology. Sadly, it was Jesse running toward him.

"Leave me alone, Jesse." said Ryan continuing to walk down the hall.

"No," said Jesse catching up to him. "I won't leave you alone until you admit you still love me."

"You can bother me all you want." said Ryan. "But I'd never admit to something as untrue as that."

"How are you so sure it's untrue?" said Jesse. "I mean, after what just happened in the library before the basketball jock interrupted us."

Ryan spun on his heel and pointed a finger in Jesse's face. "First of all," he said, "There is a ginormous difference between me thinking you're a good kisser and me being in love with you. And secondly, that 'basketball jock' has a name, and it's Jason."

"Jason or basketball jock, it doesn't really matter." said Jesse pushing Ryan's finger out of his face. "The point is he won't be bothering us anymore, Babe."

Jesse wrapped his arms around Ryan's waist and pulled them closer together, but Ryan just removed Jesse's arms and stepped away. "Don't you ever call me Babe." he warned.

"C'mon, Ryan." said Jesse stepping closer. "I know it, and you know it. You want me and you can't deny it."

"Want not love." clarified Ryan. "And want always wears off sooner or later."

"Is that so?" said Jesse placing his hands on Ryan's hips.

"Yeah." said Ryan his breathing suddenly hitched.

"Well then," said Jesse, his face a few centimeters from Ryan's, "Let's see if it's worn off yet."

Again Jesse attacked Ryan's lips with his own, except this time more gently and passionately. This only made Ryan want to kiss Jesse back even more. _Damn him and his talented lips_, thought Ryan. The kiss lasted for about two minutes before Ryan was viciously pulled away from Jesse. When he opened his eyes Chester was standing next to Jesse with his arm placed possessively over his shoulder.

"Back off, Ryan." said Chester. "Jesse's mine."

Suddenly, just by seeing Jesse and Chester together, it all became so clear to Ryan. He laughed at himself for being so stupid. "Thank you, Chester" he said.

"Huh?" said Jesse and Chester confused.

"Thank you," repeated Ryan. "Thank you so much for reminding why I hate Jesse."

Ryan walked away leaving Jesse and Chester to just watch and stare. When Ryan turned the corner he suddenly heard something. It was piano playing. Not particularly good piano playing, but piano playing none the less. And there was only one place in the school with a piano. Running to the second floor Ryan went into the music room to find Jason trying to play the piano. Sitting down next to Jason, Ryan began to play the keys on the opposite side of the piano. As Ryan mimicked the song Jason was playing Jason's playing became more in tune and eventually they were in complete sync. For a few minutes they just sat there and played, until Jason just stopped and Ryan followed suit.

"I can see why Kelsi plays the piano." Jason said with his head down. "It's good for relaxing."

"Yeah," said Ryan. "Kelsi was always good at relaxation tips. She's the one who got my mother hooked on yoga."

"I didn't know you were so good at piano." said Jason.

"Got it from my dad." said Ryan. "He was a musician. I never actually heard any of his music though, but my mom told me he was great."

"So your dad could play music, he bought you hot dogs every day, he never got mad at you, and he could paint?" said Jason.

"No," said Ryan. "My dad couldn't paint a straight line. My mother was the painter of the family. She could paint millions of pictures for hours and hours and still come up with something unique and beautiful to paint." said Ryan, going into memory mode again. "Back then she was so creative and free-spirited. Now . . . now she just acts like she's having fun and everything is alright, but inside she's screaming. At herself, at the world, at everything that has messed up her life. I can't believe I left her alone."

"It's not your fault, Ryan." said Jason. "I would have done the same thing if I was in your position."

"But you're not. You're not and I am and I really don't want to be." whined Ryan.

"Calm down, Ryan." said Jason shaking the boy.

"Sorry," said Ryan regaining his composure, "About that and about the library."

"Forget about it." said Jason.

"No," said Ryan. "I came to say I'm sorry and I'm going to say it." When Jason didn't say anything Ryan continued, "So . . . I'm sorry."

"I accept your apology." said Jason smiling.

"Really?" asked Ryan.

Jason leaned in to kiss Ryan softly, "Really."


	19. Falling Grace

Ryan was lying on his couch, looking through the album, when he heard a knock on his door. He got up and placed the album on the piano before heading to the front door. Opening it he found a very drunk looking Jesse leaning against his door frame. "Jesse?" said Ryan.

"Ryan." said Jesse trying to stand up straight. He nearly collapsed, but Ryan caught him before him he could fall.

"Why the hell are you here, Jesse?" said Ryan struggling to stay up with Jesse's dead weight. "I thought I told you to leave me alone."

"I couldn't stand to-to lose you Ry-Ryan." said Jesse slurring his words.

"Well it's going to be hard to win me back when you're drunk." groaned Ryan as he carried Jesse into the living room. Dropping Jesse onto the couch he plopped down next to him. "Why are you drunk, Jesse?"

"I'm sorry." said Jesse laying a hand on Ryan's cheek. "I just came from a frat party. I was so depressed that I drank too much. Guess it's just one of those reasons why you hate me."

_Crap,_ thought Ryan as he held Jesse's hand,_ Now I feel guilty._ "Look, Jesse," said Ryan, "I don't hate you. What I do hate is how you had a relationship with me and still had sex with all those other guys. Do you know how bad I felt when I found out how many other guys you've been with?"

"I'm so so sorry, Ryan." apologized Jesse. "I never meant to hurt you. It's those damn sex hormones. Too many of 'em."

"Oh please," said Ryan letting go of Jesse's hand.

"I'm serious." said Jesse sitting up instead of slouching. "But even if you still don't believe me, it doesn't matter. I just wanted to spend a few minutes with you before you ran off with basketball jock."

"Jason." said Ryan pulling on Jesse's hair playfully.

"Fine," said Jesse laughing. "Jason, it's Jason." Ryan laughed too as he stared into Jesse's eyes. This is what he missed about Jesse. When he was playful, laughing, fun, and when he was sweet. "Can we go up onto the roof?"

"What?" said Ryan as his laughter ended.

"The roof." said Jesse pointing at the ceiling. "Can we go up there?"

"Sure." said Ryan. "C'mon, let's go."

Ryan helped Jesse off the couch and when he found his footing he was able to walk on his own. Though he still swayed and stumbled a bit as Ryan led the way to the stairs that led to the attic. He pulled down on the string that opened the door in the ceiling that caused the ladder to fall down. Letting Jesse go up first he quickly followed and crouched so he could fit in the tiny area. Crawling to the nearest window he opened it and went out onto the roof. Jesse had a hard time keeping steady on the slanted roof, but Ryan helped him and they climbed to the top.

For at least an hour they just sat together, Ryan leaning his head on Jesse's shoulder and Jesses resting his head on Ryan's. They watched the sky as the sun set and the stars began to shine brightly against the inky darkness of night. It was the most beautiful sight that Ryan had ever witnessed. He wished that it was Jason here with him instead of Jesse, but it wasn't so bad with Jesse there, especially since he was acting like his old self.

"Ryan?" said Jesse suddenly.

"Yeah, Jess." said Ryan. It had been so long since he had used Jesse's nickname, it felt nice when he said it.

"I know your answer will probably still be the same, but I have to ask again." said Jesse. "Do you really love Jason more than you love me?"

"Do we have to talk about that now?" said Ryan. He didn't want this good experience to be ruined.

"I'm sorry, Ry." said Jesse. "But I have to know. Right now."

"Fine," said Ryan. "Yes, I really do love Jason more than I love you. I'm sorry, Jesse, but I just can't explain it. When I'm with Jason I don't feel like I need to hide false pretenses. I can just be me and talk about myself and he would never judge me."

"And you don't feel that way when you're around me." concluded Jesse.

"I feel that way right now." offered Ryan.

"But it will never be like what you feel with Jason." finished Jesse.

"I'm sorry, Jesse," apologized Ryan. "But no."

"That's ok." said Jesse. "But I can't live to see you end with that basketball jock."

"C'mon, Jesse." said Ryan holding onto his arm. "Don't be like that."

"I'm sorry, Ry." said Jesse. He lifted his head up causing Ryan to lift his and look and him. Jesse held him by the chin and softly brought their lips together. For a few minutes they sat there kissing, until Jesse pulled away and released Ryan's chin. "Remember I loved you more right now than he ever has or will in his entire life."

"What are you talking about?" said Ryan as Jesse got up. Jesse walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down at the ground. "Jesse, what are you doing? Be careful or you'll fall and hurt yourself."

Jesse turned around to look at Ryan with a smile. "See ya, Ry."

Jesse held his arms out wide and began to tip backwards. "Jesse!" yelled Ryan as he jumped up. He tried to reach Jesse before he fell, but he wasn't fast enough. He was forced to watch as Jesse fell to the ground and collided with it head first. When he saw a dark liquid pool start to grow around Jesse's head he ran inside the attic window, down to the main floor, and outside to kneel next to Jesse's unconscious body.

"Jesse!" he shouted as he tapped on his friend's cheek and the tears started . "Jesse, wake up! Please wake up! C'mon you have to wake up!"

When Jesse didn't budge Ryan pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed 9-1-1. He brought the phone to his ear and waited out the rings before someone finally picked.

"9-1-1. How can I help?" came a woman's voice.

"My friend fell off the roof! He's bleeding from the head! A lot!" screamed Ryan into the phone.

"Sir, please calm down." soothed the woman.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" shouted Ryan. "My friend is dying and he needs medical attention! Could you please just send someone down here?!"

"Don't worry an ambulance is on the way." said the woman. "27 Withershin Ave., right?"

"Yeah, that's it." said Ryan.

"They should be there any minute, Sir." said the woman.

The rest of the night went by in a blur. The sirens, the lights, the ambulance, the paramedics, the people coming out of their houses to see what was going on, even Jason, bright white hospital halls, that annoying receptionist, some people yelling at him, most likely Jesse's parents, and at some point a doctor coming out to tell him Jesse was dead. At that point everything just stopped. The whole world seemed to be at a standstill as that sentence replayed itself over and over again in Ryan's mind.

_Your friend Jesse is dead, Your friend Jesse is dead, Your friend Jesse is dead, You friend Jesse is dead, Your friend Jesse is dead._

When time finally began to start up again Jason was suddenly next to him. He followed Jason out of the hospital and into Jason's car. Jason might have said something to him, but he didn't hear it. Ryan couldn't hear anything, but that damn sentence over and over again. When he was in his house, finally alone, he screamed. He screamed for what seemed like forever, until he couldn't scream anymore and just collapsed and cried himself to sleep in the front hallway.


	20. Final Chance

A/N: Oh my god! It has been so long since I updated! Extremely sorry for the wait. I've been going through so much in school and with death in the family. At point I felt like killing myself and taking everyone with me. But 've regained my sanity and I was able to come up with this. It's not very good but I tried.

* * *

"How is he, Sharpay?"

"I don't know, Gabby." said Sharpay as she looked at the girl with teary eyes. "I haven't seen him all day, and I'm worried that he's in trouble."

"Of course he's in trouble. He killed somebody." Chad blurted out.

"Chad!" scolded Taylor as she elbowed her boyfriend in the gut. "Don't be so insensitive."

"Yeah, fro boy!" sneered Sharpay. "Besides he didn't kill anyone. It was probably just an accident."

"Well, why don't you ask Ryan since he's walking over here right now." said Kelsi pointing towards the cafeteria entrance.

The whole cafeteria was filled with a dead silence as every pair of eyes turned to look at the boy who had entered. The group turned to see the brunette boy walking over to the table with his arms wrapped around himself and his head bent low. His eyes darted this way and that as he glanced at all the eyes staring back at him. Even when Ryan sat down at the table and continued to stare downward in silence all eyes stayed on him.

"So," whispered Ryan low enough so that only the table could hear him, "Is anyone going to say something?"

"How was last night? Anything interesting happen?" said Chad with a smile.

"Chad!" Taylor scolded him again and elbowed his gut once more.

"HAHAhahaha!"

Everyone turned to look at Ryan in surprise as he began cracking up at Chad's question. They began to question if Ryan had gone completely insane as his laughter started to die down.

"Ryan, what is so funny?" whispered Sharpay to her brother.

"For a second I actually began to feel normal." said Ryan. When everyone just sent him a confused expression he elaborated, "I just think it's funny that I can feel so normal, even just for a second, when I just killed someone."

The silence that followed that statement was very long and very awkward. It wasn't until that moment that Ryan began to feel the entire cafeteria's gaze on him.

"You know what I hate?!" Ryan started shouting, "When everyone keeps staring at me! It's so rude and uncomfortable!"

"Ryan, stop shouting!" Sharpay hissed in a whisper, "You're starting to sound like a crazy person!"

"Well, maybe I am a crazy person!" Ryan hissed back. "You know with all the drugs I take?!"

"Would you not talk about drugs?" Sharpay said a little louder than she intended to.

"What's this about drugs?"

Everyone turned to see Principal Matsui standing right next to their table with a questioning look.

"Um . . . we're still working on that project about drugs." Chad said quickly.

"And I am so tired of it." Sharpay said through gritted teeth as she glared at Ryan.

"Well deal with it, Shar." said Ryan.

"Mr. Evans may I speak to you in my office?" asked the principal.

"Sure, it's probably less uncomfortable in there than it is in here." said Ryan getting up.

All eyes watched as Ryan followed Principal Matsui out of the cafeteria and into the halls. Even when he was gone Ryan caused an awkward silence to remain in the air of the cafeteria for the entire lunch period.

Twenty-three minutes later when the lunch period was over and the gang was in the halls crowded around Sharpay's locker. Sharpay just stood still with one hand over her mouth and another holding a note that she would not take her eyes off of. The rest of the gang tried to see what the note said and when everyone saw it they gasped in shock. On the small piece of paper written in neat script were the words: _I got expelled._

* * *

Knock, knock, knock! Knock, knock, knock! Knock, knock, knock!

"I'm coming!" Ryan shouted as he headed for his front door. "Calm down, I'll be right there."

In a few seconds he turned the knob and opened the door only to get a piece of paper shoved right in his face.

"What the hell is _this_?!" Sharpay said spitting out the word with venom.

"I think it's called a note." said Ryan with much sarcasm.

"Don't fuck with me right now, Ryan! I'm not in the fucking mood!" shouted Sharpay as she brushed past him and walked into his living room.

"My, my, my, such a potty mouth on you." said Ryan with mock disapprovement.

"God dammit, Ryan! If you don't cut the crap and start explaining I will take off my earrings!" Sharpay began to threaten. "Now what do you mean you got fucking expelled?!"

"It means what it says, Sharpay. I got expelled." said Ryan taking a seat in one of the chairs. "I no longer go to East High because I am 'a threat to the health of my fellow students', as Principal Matsui puts it. So he expelled me and now . . ."

"Now you've taken it too fucking far, Ryan." said Sharpay calming down a bit. "You got expelled from school, your ex-boyfriend is dead, and your life is going no where but down the drain. How can you be so unphased by all of this?"

"My life is not going down the drain, Sharpay." said Ryan calmly. "It's going to where I wanted it to go. I am freeing myself from everything that stopped me from hiding my past. _Our_ past. I am finally able to remember Dad without being told not to because it will blow our perfect lifestyles."

"Oh please, Ryan." Said Sharpay with such disgust in her voice as she glared at her brother. "This is not for the memory of Dad. This has never been for the memory of Dad. This has been about you! This has always been about you and this will always be about you! You always call me the selfish twin when you're doing something I would never do! You're hurting the lives of other people just so that you won't have to deal the responsibilities of getting over Dad's death! You are such a coward."

"I'm a coward." said Ryan in disbelief as he rose from his seat. "I'm a coward. Look who's talking. At least I can acknowledge Dad's existence! You act like you never knew the guy in your entire life! I am not the one that is scared of dealing with Dad's death. You are! Tell me. In the past year how many times have you thought of Dad?"

"I don't know. I try not to think about him whenever he crosses my mind." Sharpay admitted.

"Well, I've thought about every second of every day, and it hurts so much. Dealing with his death is not about forgetting him altogether. It's about remembering him even though he's gone." said Ryan.

"So you need to get someone killed and get expelled from school just to remember him." said Sharpay in disbelief. "Do you really think this is what he would want us to do? To ruin our lives just so that we can keep a slight memory of him with us? If he does than I would rather forget that he was my father!"

"Bite your tongue!" said Ryan pointing a finger in her face.

"No!" shouted Sharpay slapping his hand out of her face. "Ryan this has gone way too far. Our own friends, the friends that you helped us to get, are actually afraid to come and see you. I begged them to come here with me and they _all_ said no. Even Jason."

"Jason." said Ryan suddenly remembering the boy. "Jason was scared of me."

"No, he's scared of what you become. We all are." said Sharpay.

Ryan tried to let all of this sink in, but it was too much to handle. "No," he said finally, "No. You're lying. You must be lying."

"Ryan, would I lie?" Sharpay tried to reason.

"You're lying!" Ryan screamed. "Jason loves me! He would come no matter what! They would all come! They're my friends! You probably told not to come because they would side with me! You just want to win, Sharpay! You always want to win! Even when it hurts your own twin brother! You are the selfish twin because all you care about is you! You evil, backstabbing, blond, bitch!"

_SMACK!_

Everything was still as Sharpay and Ryan stood frozen, both shocked at Sharpay's action. Ryan began to feel the pain settle into his cheek and Sharpay's hand began to sting from the impact. Finally Ryan looked at his sister with the deepest of hatred in his eyes, which was mirrored in the eyes that stared back at him.

"GET OUT!" screamed Ryan. "NOW!"

"Glady." said Sharpay in an evil whisper.

In a matter of seconds she was out of the house and in her pink convertible driving home while Ryan went to inspect his cheek in the bathroom mirror.

* * *

A/N: Thank you so much for reading my sucky story. Please review!


	21. The End

A/N: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

This is the worst chapter I have ever written, probably the worst thing I've ever writtenin my whole life. I half-assed it and now it's a piece of crap. I'm sorry to say that this is the last chapter and it is horrible. Please don't say mean things.

And thanks to those who said my story wasn't sucky. I needed that.

* * *

After their big fight Ryan and Sharpay stopped talking to each other completely. They couldn't even bare to look at each other without feeling the need to kill the one another. Two days after the events of that day Ryan received a letter that did not help his mood in the tiniest bit.

"Jesse's parents are filing a law suit against me for the death of their son." Ryan said to his friends at lunch.

"Whoa! Where did you come from?!" shouted Chad as he was surprised by Ryan's sudden arrival.

"Keep your voice down." hissed Ryan. "I just got here a few minutes ago. It's surprisingly easy to sneak into this school without being caught. I'm surprised we've never been robbed before."

"Ryan you could get into serious trouble for being here. You got expelled, remember?" said Gabriella.

"Yeah, I remember." said Ryan. "It's just so boring sitting my house all by myself. So I thought I'd visit you guys at lunch. God, why don't we have any security guards or cameras around here? I thought I would at least have to pick the lock, but the back entrance is wide open."

"So you snuck into the school without anybody knowing?" asked Taylor. Ryan nodded. "And you wonder why they think you're a threat to the other students' health?"

"Whatever." said Ryan completely ignoring her. "Did no one hear the part about me possibly going to jail?"

"You can't go to jail." said Martha. "You didn't do anything."

"That's not what Jesse's parents think. They think it's all my fault that Jesse got drunk and fell off my roof.' said Ryan.

"Well, they have no evidence and therefore no case against you." said Taylor.

"They must have some evidence or else I wouldn't have gotten a summons in the mail this morning. Also the fact that I was expelled from doing drugs isn't exactly going to help me in court." said Ryan.

"Or the fact that you broke into that school two days later." Chad added.

"I didn't break in." said Ryan offended. "I simply walked through the back door."

"Either way you're here when you shouldn't be." said Troy.

"Ok, you know what? I thought that my friends would be supportive of me in my time of crisis. I guess I wrong. You're all just going to abandon me just like my sister did." said Ryan shooting a glance at Sharpay, who hadn't looked at him the entire time he was there. "Maybe I should just go then. See you guys later . . . if I don't end up in jail."

Five days later the court trial took place. Apparently a witness to Jesse's death had been found . . . Chester. Ryan had no idea Chester had been there when Jesse had fallen off of the roof. Ryan hadn't seen him in the crowd of faces that had surrounded his house when the ambulance had arrived. Of course, Chester, having a grudge against Ryan, told the jury that he had seen Ryan push Jesse off of the roof, but Chester had always been a liar, and Ryan could see from their faces that no one on the jury believed Chester. They probably just left his lie up to bad angle of view because he was not accused of perjury.

But when the fact of his expulsion and drug use was revealed to the court he could tell that they had made a decision in their heads. That he was absolutely guilty.

When the jury was released to discuss their verdict Ryan sat rigidly in his seat awaiting their return and the announcement of his fate.

"Psst. Hey, Ryan." whispered a voice.

Ryan turned around in his seat to see Jason sitting in the seat right behind him. He was wearing a charcoal black suit with a tie and had a freshly shaven face.

"Hmhm. You look good when you clean up." said Ryan. "If I wasn't so worried about possibly going to jail I would ravage you right now. Even with all these people watching."

"You don't really think you're going to jail do you?" Jason asked worriedly.

"Nah. I'm just a natural worrier. Everything's going to be fine." said Ryan.

A few seconds later the jury returned and was ready to announce their verdict.

"On the count of murder." announced the judge.

The head juror stood up and opened his mouth, ready to speak.

"We find the defendant, Ryan Evans, not guilty."

The only happiness that came from that announcement was the grin on Jason's face and the smirk that Ryan held confidently.

"On the count of illegal drug use."

And just as soon that smirk disappeared.

"We find the defendant guilty." said the head juror.

"What!" shouted Ryan outraged. "I'm not even on trial for that!"

"Sit down, Mr. Evans!" bellowed the judge banging his gavel. "Obviously you should be since you have no control over your actions! I hereby sentence you to a full year in rehabilitation until you are fully clean! Court adjourned!"

Ryan sank down into his seat as his eyes began to fill tears. He was so wrapped in sorrow that he didn't notice Chester come up behind his chair and lean close to his ear.

"You wouldn't want to thank me for this too, would you?" he asked evilly before walking away with a chuckle.

Ryan rose up from his seat and looked at Chester's retreating form with such anger, but it was soon blocked by Jason's body. Looking into his eyes Ryan could see that sadness lied there too. Not being able to deal with both of them being sad Ryan decided to put on a brave face. Wiping the tears out of his eyes he forced out his best grin.

"Don't worry, Jase. I won't be gone for long. If I can break into a high school than I can sneak out of rehab. Britney Spears does it all the time and look how crazy she is." said Ryan laughing.

Jason, getting the hint, followed along and pretended to be happy as well. "Yeah, you're right. It'll seem like no time at all. See ya when you get back."

"See ya." said Ryan walking over to the bailiff, who was waiting to escort him out of the building.

With one last look over his shoulder Ryan Evans disappeared . . . but not for long.

TBC...

* * *

A/N: I am so sorryif this was a major let down for anyone expected a spectacular ending out of me. To make up for it I promise to make a BANGING beginning for the sequel. But that probably won't come for a while. So please review, but don't say mean things.


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